ICE BLUE EYES
By
Ori Oscuro
F O R E W O R D: This is my first time to delve in guess what: Aoshi - Megumi angle, (A refreshing break from my usual Soujiro x Misao) Probably this is my best first and last Aoshi-Megumi installment, each chapter an unfolding development and drama O_O that would be worth your while (10 chapters, finished and ready all for loading!) The time line and characters references from actual Ruroni Kenshin is a bit altered for some reasons to fit my setting of early 20th century Japan. There are a lot of references about Aoshi's eyes in showing his emotions, Misao is a whole lot younger not to mention Megumi got a silly nickname, and Enishi in a role that one would less imagine -_- read on and make a review.
** Standard disclaimer apply, all characters of Ruroni Kenshin are created by Nobuhiro Watsuki (which I borrow for fan purposes)
**
Part 1: Unwelcome invitation
A soft breeze caressed Takani Megumi as she gazed from the bedroom window out into the velvet dark of the night. The cobbled court yard below was bordered by the beautiful cherry blossom trees and faraway she could make out a graceful mountain with a faint white snow cap silhouetted against the darkening sky, as tired as she was from her journey, she could have looked out onto that scene forever, so different was it from everything she'd ever known. With an effort, she turned to finish unpacking the last of her luggages.
Her plush bedroom matched the surroundings in beauty, and she soon found its splendor was more equaled by that of the attached bath, a private hot spring for herself. Eager to soak away the grime and fatigue of the long day, Megumi undressed and settled gratefully in the warm water. Her immediate cares slipped away, and for the moment she could concentrate on relaxing--- and she could forget what had brought her to the secluded baroque-inspired villa of Shinomori Aoshi, a man she did not even know. Megumi has yet to meet her employer, who had been in a nearby town temple when she arrived. But she had spent a few delightful minutes with his precious adopted daughter, Misao.
After her bath, Megumi went back to her room. Lifting her hair with both hands, she piled it on top of her head and studied her reflection on the mirror. She didn't look a day older than 24, though recently she'd felt at least one hundred. Sighing she let the sleek black locks cascade down her shoulders and turned to the bed to pick up her kimono and other items.
Suddenly she leaped backward with a gasp as something brushed against her bare toes, she looked down and instead of the curling back of a venomous scorpion, and she saw a pink ribboned braid of dark hair under the rose bedspread. She knew it belong to none other than Misao Makamachi, and she is determined to wreak playful revenge on her host's 9 year old daughter. Quickly, quietly, she walked to the other side of the bed, and then in a flash dived under it, reaching for the small wiggling figure. Grabbing the small sturdy body, she tickled her ribs and the child laughed, turning from side to side in an attempt to get away.
"So this is the little monster that attacked my toe." Megumi nipped a small arm with her teeth. "I'll teach you monster, to go around attacking people."
"No.no! I'm a princess!" the child shouted between giggles.
"Oh yeah? Well I'm an Amazon woman!"
The playful scene was soon shattered, when a voice boomed out, "What in the name of common sense is going on here?" Megumi heard the deep voice before she saw the two shiny black shoes planted firmly beside the bed. The child grew still at once, and then a delighted impish smile lit up her pixie face.
"Otousan!" In a flash Misao was out from under the bed. Embarrassed, Megumi climbed out and stood up with much dignity as the circumstances allowed and turned her head up to look into the richest pools of icy blue she'd ever seen. She barely managed to stifle a gasp of surprise, but was unable to tear her eyes away from those brooding sharp depths.
Even if his eyes are remarkable beautiful and striking on its very own way against his equally sharp features, there is a hint of cold intimidating look within them. And the way they implore her was as harsh as his voice as it broke the silence. "Who the devil are you?"
Megumi was frozen with shock. Her mouth opened and trembled, as she took a low bow. "Takani Megumi."
"Oh for Buddha's sake! Dr. Gensai didn't say. I assumed you would be.well, to be frank, closer to retirement age!"
She licked her dry lips, "I have ways to go, I'm afraid."
"I can see that! You're not at all what I expected," he said distastefully,
She took a quivering breath, despising the tears that sprang to her eyes. "Sumisamen, I'll leave at once." Bold words, she didn't know where she would go, but pride forced her to say them. He didn't respond immediately, but allowed his gaze to flicker over her, the icy blue eyes narrowed to mere slits, and then he gave a brusque gesture.
"We won't discuss it now. Be in the library in fifteen minutes. Have you had dinner?" His voice was impersonal, crisp and cool.
"No, I haven't," she said with a tremor in her voice. Never removing his eyes from her, he nodded his head slightly and said, "Fifteen minutes."
"Certainly," she responded coldly.
He walked out, with Misao following closely behind.
*****
As soon as he was gone, she flung herself onto the comforting softness of the bed.
She cursed her fate, coming here to Kyoto seemed like such a good idea! Dr. Gensai is an old friend and acquaintance and has known Aoshi through some members of the clan he belonged, called the Oniwabanshus. The kindly old man owned and runs the clinic in his own home, and on which she had taken refuge in few years ago. Being a medicinal practitioner herself, and with no place to go after living in countless foster homes, Gensai takes her in and find her resources very much needed in his clinic that he insists her not to only work under is tutelage but also to live with his family as well, free of charge. From there, she briefly encountered a group called the oniwabanshus, and an elder named Okina that both resides in Kyoto. They are more than Dr. Gensai's patients as she presumed, and she heard the name "Shinomori Aoshi" brought up a time or two. It came to a surprise that one day; Dr. Gensai had told her that he arranged her to take a leave of absence from her work so she can go to Kyoto to help Aoshi with his adopted daughter, Misao.
"It's not that we don't like you Megumi, no.no.not that, but what I see ahead of you is a bright future. You are the woman fit for the job that Aoshi might be looking for. It's also about time you get to see the world beyond these walls, you are young.you got a lot of good things waiting. Besides, you have always been a good care taker of my grand children Ayame and Suzume.you will do well when you meet his adopted daughter, Makamachi Misao."
"Adopted?"
"Yes, you see Misao's real parents are killed when she was still a baby.it couldn't be avoided in clan rivalries and disputes."
To be more appropriate, the Oniwabanshus are a clan. To Megumi, they seem not only to be a clan but a fighting one; they might be ninjas, better yet.spies.
"That poor girl." Megumi said, her voice alighted with more than pity. She can relate to it. She lost her family not so long ago in the Aizu fire, during the Bakumatsu and she is the only survivor. Even though the incident is known to be a tragedy in proportions, she can't shake the thought that it has something to do with her family. More or less. After all, she came from an influential family of doctors. This young girl Misao is quite lucky not to witness how her parents are taken away too early in her life.
"The man, Shinomori Aoshi was a newly designated clan leader by that time. He soon took responsibility by looking after her and later he became her legal guardian, with the help of some members of the clan, the little girl is now a healthy hyperactive 9 year old." Gensai said, "But, Shinomori Aoshi is a man not to be easily bent with family matters. He spent most of his time with the clan and other duties that the only time he would go home will be night time or sometimes he never comes home at all."
"So no one had the time to look after Misao, Dr. Gensai.kids that age needed a lot of their parent's attention and tutelage. They need love!" Megumi said, she felt almost sorry for Misao. It gave her the urge that she has no more second thought in taking the job.
"Yes, yes indeed. I heard they sent some of the oniwabanshu's to baby sit, but to no avail. She have grown quite a tomboy without a mother figure around to look after her, and pretty rebellious without her father figure around much often. Maybe your presence is all that needed to make the child happy and wanted. I trust that you can do it Megumi,"
Megumi finds herself saying yes, even if she felt a pang of guilt in leaving the place she came to knew as home, for some reason she finds it a chance to get herself away.desperately away from other problems that Dr. Gensai does not even know. Her secret affair with Yukishiro Enishi has just come into disastrous ending. The dangerous man has become an enemy to the friends she knew in Tokyo, that she found one night in the outskirts of the forest almost fatally wounded when everyone thought he is dead. She reluctantly healed him back to health, in discretion. Then some mutual feeling she thought might have been love forbidden, started an affair. Somehow she believed that the life and death experience Enishi suffered might make a change in him somehow. After all, the past is a past. But it was not until it was over did she realized how much he have used her---- emotionally and financially, reverting back to his old self. As an orphan who had been brought up in foster homes for most of her life, Megumi realized that her folly in trusting Enishi came from her deep-seated need to be loved and accepted. After the break-up, she can't confide it with anyone else---not even Dr. Gensai who had taken her in. She cared so much for the man that had given her a place and a home that she feared for his health if she confesses her relations with a former formidable adversary. She felt so isolated, and little did she know that the old man sensed it, surprised her by giving her a new job so she can get her mind away from other things. And he made sure, that it would be emotionally rewarding for her. Kyoto is quite a trip, and with the feared and respected Oniwabanshu's leader Shinomori Aoshi as her employer, security and protection is at her side. Perhaps, she could help little Aoshi's daughter Misao find her way in life. She will have a caretaker that will be more of a mother she never had.
Megumi finds Misao as a wonderful young girl to get along with, and she wouldn't have a hard time looking after her. But when she came face to face with her employer Aoshi, things took a different tide. She could have imagined what made the man a feared and respected in his late 20's--- holding the highest designated post in the clan. He is a stone of man, used to rigidity and giving orders. He can dismiss a person with such distasteful words for he had a way to prove it.
Megumi finally rose and went to the mirror and bathed the tears from her eyes. As she looked at herself, she felt a new resolve. She would not let another man devastate her, as Enishi had. If this Shinomori Aoshi thought he could bully her, he had another thing coming. After all, he was only a man.
(Translation: otousan=father)
By
Ori Oscuro
F O R E W O R D: This is my first time to delve in guess what: Aoshi - Megumi angle, (A refreshing break from my usual Soujiro x Misao) Probably this is my best first and last Aoshi-Megumi installment, each chapter an unfolding development and drama O_O that would be worth your while (10 chapters, finished and ready all for loading!) The time line and characters references from actual Ruroni Kenshin is a bit altered for some reasons to fit my setting of early 20th century Japan. There are a lot of references about Aoshi's eyes in showing his emotions, Misao is a whole lot younger not to mention Megumi got a silly nickname, and Enishi in a role that one would less imagine -_- read on and make a review.
** Standard disclaimer apply, all characters of Ruroni Kenshin are created by Nobuhiro Watsuki (which I borrow for fan purposes)
**
Part 1: Unwelcome invitation
A soft breeze caressed Takani Megumi as she gazed from the bedroom window out into the velvet dark of the night. The cobbled court yard below was bordered by the beautiful cherry blossom trees and faraway she could make out a graceful mountain with a faint white snow cap silhouetted against the darkening sky, as tired as she was from her journey, she could have looked out onto that scene forever, so different was it from everything she'd ever known. With an effort, she turned to finish unpacking the last of her luggages.
Her plush bedroom matched the surroundings in beauty, and she soon found its splendor was more equaled by that of the attached bath, a private hot spring for herself. Eager to soak away the grime and fatigue of the long day, Megumi undressed and settled gratefully in the warm water. Her immediate cares slipped away, and for the moment she could concentrate on relaxing--- and she could forget what had brought her to the secluded baroque-inspired villa of Shinomori Aoshi, a man she did not even know. Megumi has yet to meet her employer, who had been in a nearby town temple when she arrived. But she had spent a few delightful minutes with his precious adopted daughter, Misao.
After her bath, Megumi went back to her room. Lifting her hair with both hands, she piled it on top of her head and studied her reflection on the mirror. She didn't look a day older than 24, though recently she'd felt at least one hundred. Sighing she let the sleek black locks cascade down her shoulders and turned to the bed to pick up her kimono and other items.
Suddenly she leaped backward with a gasp as something brushed against her bare toes, she looked down and instead of the curling back of a venomous scorpion, and she saw a pink ribboned braid of dark hair under the rose bedspread. She knew it belong to none other than Misao Makamachi, and she is determined to wreak playful revenge on her host's 9 year old daughter. Quickly, quietly, she walked to the other side of the bed, and then in a flash dived under it, reaching for the small wiggling figure. Grabbing the small sturdy body, she tickled her ribs and the child laughed, turning from side to side in an attempt to get away.
"So this is the little monster that attacked my toe." Megumi nipped a small arm with her teeth. "I'll teach you monster, to go around attacking people."
"No.no! I'm a princess!" the child shouted between giggles.
"Oh yeah? Well I'm an Amazon woman!"
The playful scene was soon shattered, when a voice boomed out, "What in the name of common sense is going on here?" Megumi heard the deep voice before she saw the two shiny black shoes planted firmly beside the bed. The child grew still at once, and then a delighted impish smile lit up her pixie face.
"Otousan!" In a flash Misao was out from under the bed. Embarrassed, Megumi climbed out and stood up with much dignity as the circumstances allowed and turned her head up to look into the richest pools of icy blue she'd ever seen. She barely managed to stifle a gasp of surprise, but was unable to tear her eyes away from those brooding sharp depths.
Even if his eyes are remarkable beautiful and striking on its very own way against his equally sharp features, there is a hint of cold intimidating look within them. And the way they implore her was as harsh as his voice as it broke the silence. "Who the devil are you?"
Megumi was frozen with shock. Her mouth opened and trembled, as she took a low bow. "Takani Megumi."
"Oh for Buddha's sake! Dr. Gensai didn't say. I assumed you would be.well, to be frank, closer to retirement age!"
She licked her dry lips, "I have ways to go, I'm afraid."
"I can see that! You're not at all what I expected," he said distastefully,
She took a quivering breath, despising the tears that sprang to her eyes. "Sumisamen, I'll leave at once." Bold words, she didn't know where she would go, but pride forced her to say them. He didn't respond immediately, but allowed his gaze to flicker over her, the icy blue eyes narrowed to mere slits, and then he gave a brusque gesture.
"We won't discuss it now. Be in the library in fifteen minutes. Have you had dinner?" His voice was impersonal, crisp and cool.
"No, I haven't," she said with a tremor in her voice. Never removing his eyes from her, he nodded his head slightly and said, "Fifteen minutes."
"Certainly," she responded coldly.
He walked out, with Misao following closely behind.
*****
As soon as he was gone, she flung herself onto the comforting softness of the bed.
She cursed her fate, coming here to Kyoto seemed like such a good idea! Dr. Gensai is an old friend and acquaintance and has known Aoshi through some members of the clan he belonged, called the Oniwabanshus. The kindly old man owned and runs the clinic in his own home, and on which she had taken refuge in few years ago. Being a medicinal practitioner herself, and with no place to go after living in countless foster homes, Gensai takes her in and find her resources very much needed in his clinic that he insists her not to only work under is tutelage but also to live with his family as well, free of charge. From there, she briefly encountered a group called the oniwabanshus, and an elder named Okina that both resides in Kyoto. They are more than Dr. Gensai's patients as she presumed, and she heard the name "Shinomori Aoshi" brought up a time or two. It came to a surprise that one day; Dr. Gensai had told her that he arranged her to take a leave of absence from her work so she can go to Kyoto to help Aoshi with his adopted daughter, Misao.
"It's not that we don't like you Megumi, no.no.not that, but what I see ahead of you is a bright future. You are the woman fit for the job that Aoshi might be looking for. It's also about time you get to see the world beyond these walls, you are young.you got a lot of good things waiting. Besides, you have always been a good care taker of my grand children Ayame and Suzume.you will do well when you meet his adopted daughter, Makamachi Misao."
"Adopted?"
"Yes, you see Misao's real parents are killed when she was still a baby.it couldn't be avoided in clan rivalries and disputes."
To be more appropriate, the Oniwabanshus are a clan. To Megumi, they seem not only to be a clan but a fighting one; they might be ninjas, better yet.spies.
"That poor girl." Megumi said, her voice alighted with more than pity. She can relate to it. She lost her family not so long ago in the Aizu fire, during the Bakumatsu and she is the only survivor. Even though the incident is known to be a tragedy in proportions, she can't shake the thought that it has something to do with her family. More or less. After all, she came from an influential family of doctors. This young girl Misao is quite lucky not to witness how her parents are taken away too early in her life.
"The man, Shinomori Aoshi was a newly designated clan leader by that time. He soon took responsibility by looking after her and later he became her legal guardian, with the help of some members of the clan, the little girl is now a healthy hyperactive 9 year old." Gensai said, "But, Shinomori Aoshi is a man not to be easily bent with family matters. He spent most of his time with the clan and other duties that the only time he would go home will be night time or sometimes he never comes home at all."
"So no one had the time to look after Misao, Dr. Gensai.kids that age needed a lot of their parent's attention and tutelage. They need love!" Megumi said, she felt almost sorry for Misao. It gave her the urge that she has no more second thought in taking the job.
"Yes, yes indeed. I heard they sent some of the oniwabanshu's to baby sit, but to no avail. She have grown quite a tomboy without a mother figure around to look after her, and pretty rebellious without her father figure around much often. Maybe your presence is all that needed to make the child happy and wanted. I trust that you can do it Megumi,"
Megumi finds herself saying yes, even if she felt a pang of guilt in leaving the place she came to knew as home, for some reason she finds it a chance to get herself away.desperately away from other problems that Dr. Gensai does not even know. Her secret affair with Yukishiro Enishi has just come into disastrous ending. The dangerous man has become an enemy to the friends she knew in Tokyo, that she found one night in the outskirts of the forest almost fatally wounded when everyone thought he is dead. She reluctantly healed him back to health, in discretion. Then some mutual feeling she thought might have been love forbidden, started an affair. Somehow she believed that the life and death experience Enishi suffered might make a change in him somehow. After all, the past is a past. But it was not until it was over did she realized how much he have used her---- emotionally and financially, reverting back to his old self. As an orphan who had been brought up in foster homes for most of her life, Megumi realized that her folly in trusting Enishi came from her deep-seated need to be loved and accepted. After the break-up, she can't confide it with anyone else---not even Dr. Gensai who had taken her in. She cared so much for the man that had given her a place and a home that she feared for his health if she confesses her relations with a former formidable adversary. She felt so isolated, and little did she know that the old man sensed it, surprised her by giving her a new job so she can get her mind away from other things. And he made sure, that it would be emotionally rewarding for her. Kyoto is quite a trip, and with the feared and respected Oniwabanshu's leader Shinomori Aoshi as her employer, security and protection is at her side. Perhaps, she could help little Aoshi's daughter Misao find her way in life. She will have a caretaker that will be more of a mother she never had.
Megumi finds Misao as a wonderful young girl to get along with, and she wouldn't have a hard time looking after her. But when she came face to face with her employer Aoshi, things took a different tide. She could have imagined what made the man a feared and respected in his late 20's--- holding the highest designated post in the clan. He is a stone of man, used to rigidity and giving orders. He can dismiss a person with such distasteful words for he had a way to prove it.
Megumi finally rose and went to the mirror and bathed the tears from her eyes. As she looked at herself, she felt a new resolve. She would not let another man devastate her, as Enishi had. If this Shinomori Aoshi thought he could bully her, he had another thing coming. After all, he was only a man.
(Translation: otousan=father)