Author: Arashi
Website: www.kenkaya.com
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin nor am I making any money off this story!
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Aoshi and Misao walked quietly down one of the main streets of Tokyo. "I can't believe we didn't find anything." Misao commented forlornly as she kicked a rock down the street. She was obviously disappointed at their lack of success. Aoshi didn't look any different than usual.
"One place left to check." He said quietly with a sideways glance at Misao. Misao looked up at him and saw the same old confident Aoshi. She smiled, immediately returning to her usual "genki" self.
"You're right. I'm sure we'll find something there." Aoshi saw the new look of resolve on her face and couldn't help but "smile".
When they reached the Fujita residence a quick look told them that there was no one home. They heard no voices or movement inside and when they checked they found the front gate was locked. Not to be easily deceived by appearances, Aoshi and Misao were especially careful not to make any noise as they hopped over the outer wall and into a few trees decorating the inner gardens. They crouched down quietly waiting to see if the slight noise they had made attracted any attention. After sitting completely silent for five minutes listening, they finally moved closer to the house. There really didn't seem to be anyone around.
Aoshi and Misao moved quietly around the side of the house to an obscure sliding door. They paused often listening through the walls to try and determine if anyone was inside. There was nothing but silence. They finally pushed open one of the doors and walked quietly inside. After a few more minutes they determined that the house really was empty. They immediately started searching the first room for any documents or clues. They went through most of the rooms quickly until they finally reached what had to be Tokio's bedroom.
On a dresser in plain sight sat a sealed, official looking, letter. Misao headed right over to it while Aoshi started feeling behind the wall scrolls for anything hidden. When Misao reached the dresser and took a look at the letter she almost let out a cry of surprise but with a quick hand over her own mouth she held it in. Aoshi's head shot up like she actually had yelled out. He rushed silently over to her to see what had caused such an "outburst". (In truth it was no louder than the sound of a hand covering a mouth gently) Misao picked up the sealed letter and handed it to Aoshi with wide eyes. Aoshi blinked and took a look at what was written on the outside of the letter. In beautiful script the letter was addressed: "To Shinomori Aoshi and Makimachi Misao." Aoshi looked more shocked than Misao had ever seen him in her life. He turned to her slowly and she knew that the look on her face couldn't be much better. Her eyes said everything. She had no idea what to think. Aoshi silently pulled the letter open feeling something he was not accustomed to: Apprehension.
At the dojo, practice was almost over. Yahiko was hard at work putting the young students through their closing exercises. He felt a certain amount of distraction knowing that there was something big going on. He didn't let it bother him and did his best to focus on the task at hand. As he watched Tsuyoshi he wondered to himself if the boy knew even half of what was going on. Was his father and mother using him as an excuse to have Tokio come over there every day without telling him the real reason? That idea bothered Yahiko too. Yahiko took a look at the clock on the wall and realized that practice was almost over. Soon it would be time to try and distract Tokio for Aoshi and Misao.
Kaoru came in to inspect the students as they finished up. Yutarou and Yahiko came up to stand beside her as she took a look at the row of students standing in proper kendo stance. She smiled, told everyone that they were doing well, and informed them that class was finished for the day. Everyone stood at attention and bowed to the instructor and teachers. Kaoru, Yahiko, and Yutarou bowed back and then the students started changing out of their practice clothes.
Outa was the first to get changed, as usual, and he ran out of the dojo to go finish up some of his chores. Kaoru had explained to Outa only that they were going to have Tsuyoshi and his mother over for dinner that night and that he wasn't supposed to say anything about Sanosuke. The boy didn't suspect a thing and wasn't even aware that his older brother was hiding in the main house. He ran off happily to finish his work and Kaoru watched him go. For once, he and Tsuyoshi won't be fighting when Tokio-san shows up. She smiled at the thought.
Kaoru glanced over to where Yahiko and Yutarou stood talking with some of the older students. Even though Yahiko had told Yutarou about the situation, neither of them let their apprehension show. Kaoru watched as Eiji made some comment and judging by the way Yahiko responded, he found whatever Eiji said very interesting.
"Really?" She could hear his voice above the constant chatter of the other students who were still waiting for their parents.
"Hold on a sec guys, I'll be right back." Yahiko made a beeline straight for her.
"What is it Yahiko?" Kaoru asked him. He had a strange look on his face.
"Eiji says that Tokio was going to ask us if they could stay for dinner tonight." Kaoru and Yahiko blinked at each other.
"Whoa." Was all Kaoru could find to say.
"That's what I was thinking." Yahiko said with a grin. "This is working out well so far." As he made the comment Fujita Tokio walked through the front gate. In her arms was a bag full of fresh food. She had a pleasant smile on her face as she greeted Yahiko and Kaoru.
"I brought some delicious food that I thought we could cook up for our families." Tokio told Kaoru after they had greeted each other.
"That sounds wonderful Tokio-san!" As they talked Tsuyoshi ran up to them and tugged on Tokio's kimono.
"Mother, are we going to stay for dinner?" The boy sounded excited.
"As long as Kaoru-san doesn't mind." Tokio said with a smile at Kaoru.
"Of course not!" Kaoru said returning the happy smile. "We can go get started cooking right away." Kaoru took the bag of food from Tokio and together they made their way to the kitchen.
Yahiko looked back and nodded at Yutarou, letting him know that everything was going according to plan. Yutarou returned the nod as Yahiko walked off to find Kenshin. He listened intently as he walked past the room where Megumi and Sanosuke were hiding. It was silent. Smiling to himself, Yahiko continued around to the front where he found Kenshin bouncing a ball with Kenji. Kenji kept knocking the ball away when Kenshin tried to bounce it.
"Now Kenji, that's not how you bounce the ball." Kenshin said as he retrieved the ball. He tried to demonstrate how to bounce it the correct way but Kenji just smacked it out of the way again.
"Oi Kenshin." Yahiko said as he walked up to him. "Tokio-dono and her family are going to be staying over for dinner." Yahiko gave him a confident look so that he would know everything was going according to plan. Kenshin smiled and nodded his understanding.
"That sounds great."
Inside the kitchen Kaoru and Tokio began cooking up a storm. Though Kaoru offered to help prepare all the food, Tokio politely insisted that she be the one to do most of the work. She was the one who had invited herself over after all. Her comments were so tactful that Kaoru never figured out that Tokio didn't want her to ruin the food.
"You sure brought a lot of food Tokio-san." Tokio turned to Kaoru and gave her a kind smile.
"We have to make sure we can feed everyone." Kaoru looked down at all the food lying around in the kitchen and knew that it wouldn't be a problem. They had enough food to feed both their families and then some.
"I hope the boys are hungry." Kaoru replied.
"You know how boys are." Tokio said with a little chuckle. "Oh dear." Tokio had stopped what she was doing and put her hands on her hips.
"What is it?" Kaoru asked.
"I forgot some of the food at my house." Kaoru carefully hid the thoughts that popped up into her head.
"Oh that's ok. We have plenty here." Tokio gave Kaoru a strange look. Kaoru wondered if some of her apprehension had come through. Had she replied too fast? Tokio appeared to be deep in thought.
"I suppose you're right. We'll just have to make due with what we have." Kaoru was relieved. The last thing they needed was Tokio walking in on Aoshi and Misao. The two women went back to work.
A little while later, Yahiko and Kenshin were
sitting on the back porch. Kenji practiced with his shinai while
Tsuyoshi and Outa sparred. Yahiko offered all sorts of advice
and tips to the two students who were actually behaving themselves
for once.
The entire time, Yahiko couldn't help but keep his ears open
waiting for any sound that might give away their hiding friends.
I'm really impressed that they've stayed quiet this long.
We definitely cannot afford to make mistakes now. Yahiko
glanced over at Kenshin and read the same feeling on his face.
He smiled at Yahiko and quietly said, "Don't worry, everything
will be fine."
"Don't worry about what?" Eiji and Yutarou sat down on the back porch next to Yahiko and Kenshin. Yahiko was startled and he turned to his friends stammering unintelligibly. He couldn't let Eiji know what they were talking about. He lives with Tokio after all
"I Uh Um"
"Yahiko was worried about dinner." Kenshin lowered his voice confidentially. "I told him not to worry, because Tokio-dono's doing all the important cooking." Yahiko had just enough time to shoot Kenshin a thankful look before he was flew off the porch with an exclamation of "ororororororo". The three young men turned quickly and found Kaoru standing angrily with her foot still raised in the air after kicking her husband.
"I come out here to let you know the food is almost finished and I find you all insulting me behind my back! Who's next?" She rolled up her sleeves menacingly. Yahiko, Yutarou, and Eiji all flew off the porch and dodged out of the way as a bucket flew over their heads. Yahiko ran over to Kenshin as the other two scatted. Tsuyoshi and Outa stopped sparring and ran for cover while Kenji continued to practice with his shinai, ignoring the chaos around him. Yahiko pulled Kenshin to his feet and together they dashed off to safety as Kaoru's arsenal of household items flew through the air.
"You're all in BIG trouble! You hear me?" Kaoru was yelling at the top of her lungs. Kenshin and Yahiko leaned against the side of the house panting. "That goes DOUBLE for you Kenshin!" Kenshin gulped.
"Hehehe You're dead." Yahiko grinned.
"Orororo" Kenshin slid down the side of the wall and sat on the ground dejectedly. "You owe me one Yahiko." Yahiko snickered but before he could make another response the front door creaked open. Kenshin was on his feet in an instant and he and Yahiko dashed off to find out who was coming inside unannounced. Both unconsciously reached for their weapons, sensing that something had gone wrong. When they saw Aoshi and Misao walk through the front gate carrying a tray of food and a case of Sake Yahiko and Kenshin skidded to a halt.
"What are you two doing?" Yahiko barely kept himself from yelling. Aoshi and Misao both gave him a strange look but neither answered his question. Yahiko walked right up to them and angrily whispered. "They're still HERE." Aoshi looked down at Yahiko, unfazed by his comment. After a long moment he finally broke his silence.
"Hold this." He handed Yahiko the case of Sake and the young swordsman was too confused to argue. Aoshi pulled a letter out of one of his coat pockets and handed it to Kenshin. "We found this at the Fujita residence." Aoshi's voice sounded odd. He was even more subdued than usual. And Misao stood watching them all in complete silence. Yahiko eyed her suspiciously and then took a step closer to Kenshin to look at the letter.
"What is it?" When Kenshin and Yahiko read whom the letter was addressed to both their heads shot up in surprise. Aoshi and Misao remained silent and quietly urged them to open up the letter and read for themselves:
"Return to the dojo, the answers you seek are there. When you come could you please bring the tray of ohagi sitting in my kitchen and if you would be so kind as to pick up some Sake for later I'm sure that would be greatly appreciated. I look forward to meeting you. - Fujita Tokio."
Kenshin and Yahiko found themselves looking back at Aoshi and Misao with the same expression the two Oniwabanshu had plastered to their faces. They stood there for a minute or two not knowing what to say or do. When the blonde haired Keishichou agent casually walked through the open gate they were all still standing there. They didn't even react when Chou walked right up to them.
"So is dinner ready?" Chou asked
them. His tone was completely casual. He sounded like he was
supposed to be there and everyone was supposed to know he was
coming. He acted like it was only natural that he would be coming
over for dinner, though none of the dumbfounded people standing
in the entry gate had any idea he'd be showing up. Chou took
a step toward Misao and opened up the lid of the tray of food
she was carrying. "Yum, my favorite." He commented
when he saw the ohagi. "Tokio-san does ohagi like no other.
Well, what are we standing around for? Let's go eat." It
seemed like the right thing to do at the moment. Kenshin, Yahiko,
Aoshi, and Misao all followed Chou toward the house in shocked
silence.
Inside the kitchen, dinner was finally finished. Kaoru looked
around and knew that they had cooked too much food. Kaoru pulled
out serving trays and set them on the counter and then turned
to Tokio.
"There's no way we'll be able to eat everything." Tokio seemed to ignore her and continued looking through the cupboards.
"Do you have any more bowls?" Kaoru
looked down at the stack and counted. There were exactly enough
for each of them.
"I already have enough bowls." Kaoru told her. Tokio
kept looking.
"We need a few more trays as well." Kaoru was starting to get confused. She had exactly enough of everything already sitting out. Tokio didn't seem like she was listening to her so Kaoru just walked over and got some more trays and bowls out. As she was setting them down on the counter Tokio turned toward the door to the kitchen and a smile came to her face.
"Glad you could all make it." Kaoru turned to see whom she was addressing and was quite surprised to see Aoshi, Misao, Yahiko, Kenshin, and Chou standing in the hallway. Yahiko stepped inside and set down a case of Sake and Misao walked right up to Tokio carrying a tray. Each of them had a strange look on their face, except Chou who looked absolutely comfortable.
"Here's the ohagi, Tokio-san." Misao told Tokio who took the tray with a smile of gratitude.
"Thank you Misao-chan." Misao gave her a polite little bow with her head. Kaoru's mouth dropped open. What are Misao and Aoshi doing here? And why is Chou here? And how come Tokio knows Misao? And why do they all look so stupid?? None of Kaoru's thoughts escaped as she watched everyone in disbelief.
"Dinner is ready. Shall we eat?" Tokio smiled warmly at each of the people in the kitchen.
"Hell yeah." Chou was the only one to reply as he threw his hand up in the air happily.
"What's going on?" Kaoru finally managed to ask. Kenshin and Yahiko both turned to look at her but didn't say a thing.
"Kenshin? Yahiko? Anybody?" Tokio handed Kaoru the stack of trays.
"Go take these into the biggest room in your house. Don't worry I'll explain everything after we eat." Tokio looked just the same as always; calm, serene, and happy. Kaoru was so confused she did exactly what Tokio told her to do.
"Can I help with something, Tokio-dono?" Kenshin asked coming up to her and bowing his head respectfully. She handed him two trays of food. Yahiko stepped up without a word and held out his hands to be loaded up with another stack of trays. Misao and Aoshi were close behind. In no time, the room they had chosen to eat in was prepared. There were two extra places. No one even bothered asking Tokio who they were for.
"Yahiko-kun, would you please go invite Sanosuke-san and Megumi-san to dinner?" Yahiko walked out of the room and headed down the hall to get Sanosuke and Megumi in silence. "Kaoru-san. Would you please go round up the children?" Kaoru stood and gave a small bow as she exited the room. "Thank you for picking up the Sake, Aoshi-san. I'm sure Sanosuke-san will enjoy it." Aoshi bowed his head as well.
"It was my pleasure, Tokio-dono." Tokio smiled at each of them left in the room.
"I think it would be best to wait to explain things until the children are finished eating." Tokio said, looking at Kenshin. "Don't you think so, Himura-san?" Kenshin nodded.
"That seems like it would be for the best, that it does."
Down the hall, Yahiko had reached the door to the room Sanosuke and Megumi were hiding in. Without a word of warning he slid the door open. Yahiko was already in a state of shock so when he found Megumi and Sano half naked on a futon together he didn't even blink. Megumi's kimono was untied and revealingly open in the front. Sano wore nothing but his pants that were untied and hanging lower than usual. The two were entwined, passionately kissing each other and completely oblivious to their audience.
It wasn't the first time that Yahiko had stumbled in on two people in such a situation. Of course, finding THESE TWO people locked together would have shocked Yahiko speechless if hadn't already been shocked that day. Under normal circumstances, Yahiko would have slid the door shut and ran for his life. But these were anything but normal circumstances. Yahiko cleared his throat to get their attention.
Megumi and Sano both froze and then looked up at him slowly. Megumi let out a cry of surprise and grabbed the empty tray that had held their dinner. She whipped the wooden tray and nailed Yahiko right in the head. He staggering back out of the room as Megumi shoved Sanosuke off of her and pulled her kimono tightly over her chest, backing away from Sano in embarrassment. Sanosuke was on his feet in an instant and he stormed out into the hall after Yahiko. One hand held the back of his pants so they didn't fall off and his other hand quickly found Yahiko's collar. He picked Yahiko off the ground and pinned him against one of the support beams in the wall.
"What the hell do you think you're doing Yahiko!!?" Yahiko was too dazed to reply but the loud shouting had drawn the attention of the others down the hall. Kenshin, Aoshi, Misao, Tokio, and Chou all peeked their heads out to see what was going on. Kaoru came around the corner with Eiji, Yutarou, Kenji, Tsuyoshi, and Outa just a moment later. Sanosuke was standing there holding Yahiko up in the air against the wall, wearing nothing but a very loose pair of drawstring pants and the bandages on his right hand. His hair was a mess and everyone with any experience in the matter knew exactly what he had been doing. Some of Megumi's make-up was smeared on his face and chest. The hair on the back of Sano's neck stood up as he turned slowly. He found everyone staring at him.
"Oh Shit."
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If you've read this far and stop now, there's something wrong with you. This is one of my favorite cliffhangers. :) What's going to happen, you ask? READ THE NEXT CHAPTER!! *wink* It's time for some answers!