Part 8: Notion of True Love?
They proceed to Osaka, the couple stopped to pay a visit to Aoshi's sensei, Okina at a secluded dojo near the mountains. When they reached the dojo's entrance they were met by a matronly old woman dressed in a black kimono. Aoshi was hugged like a favorite son and he showed his respect by bowing low and introduced Megumi.
"This is Matsuki-san, she has been with my sensei for many years and ever since they moved here in Osaka. They are about the same age." He explained this to Megumi, and then spoke more slowly to the woman. "Is Okina-sensei well, Matsuki?"
She made a gesture with her hands. "Hai. But he is meditating in his room. Take your bride to the room adjacent to the dojo and rest. I will tell your sensei later that you have brought your new tsuma to him. Do not be surprised if he is angry." The old woman laughed. "But not as angry as Moriya Misanagi, ne?"
Matsuki's frankness caused questions to swirl through Megumi's mind. How was she going to face this hostile goroujin? Would she feel once again, like the unwanted child thrust into a foster home? Pride surfaced. No, by damn! If his sensei didn't like her, tough!
"Don't worry," Aoshi said later on, as he led her to Okina's room. "He's disappointed that I didn't marry Misanagi, who is an Okashira of the Sanada clan who happens to drop by the dojo every now and then. But when he gets to know you it will be all right. He gives in where I'm concerned. You'll see."
"I hope so."
But her uneasiness grew as they walked through the steps, leading inside to corridors before they finally went to a room. What thoughts are going through his head, she wondered? How was she going to bear up the strain of living with him, knowing he only liked her and was more than satisfied with their sexual relationship, but didn't love her? Would the decision she made to marry him demand more of her than she would be able to bear?
Aoshi puts his hand at the wide sliding screen door. "Just be yourself. You look beautiful," he murmured.
They walked in the cool, quiet room. At first Megumi thought it was empty because the old man dressed in neutral colors sitting down a cushion blended with his surroundings. With her hand firmly clasped in his, Aoshi led her forward, and then bent down in one knee to the floor as a sign of respect of the man who became his mentor. His blue gaze, shifted to Okina's bleary look, like he was rudely disturbed from his daily ritual. Okina looks friendly, and quite strong for his age, only there is something unsettling the way he gazes at them. Megumi noticed that he has suffered a head injury, his head bound tightly with a gauze and one eye seems bleaker. Then she recalled Okon's tale about the fatal showdown the two once had that nearly cost the old man's life. It's a reunion between two masters, and yet there is a gap still between them that remains best unspoken.
Aoshi rose to his feet, pressing her hand. "Here she is, Okina-sensei. I told you she was beautiful." His voice was soft, almost reverent. Okina's dark bright eyes looked steadily at Megumi as she looked steadily back. Instinct told her this man would look with contempt on any one who stood meekly, passively, under his stare. She pulled her hand from Aoshi's and made a low bow to the man who sat so stoically.
"I'm glad to meet you, Okina-san." It seemed to Megumi that she bowed low for ages before the goroujin acknowledge it with a terse nod.
"Sit down." He was still looking at Megumi and his words were more of a command than an invitation. Megumi walked back a few steps to an identical soft floor cushion, but before she kneeled down the man looked at Aoshi. "Leave us." His blue eyes told her he wouldn't go if he wanted her to stay. He gave Okina a firm gaze, and folds his arms across his chest. The two men hardly communicate by words and a tension seems to rise, and their thoughts are obvious with their actions. Megumi smiled at him.
"I think your sensei and I should get to know one another on an in-law to in-law basis, ne koibito. Do you mind?" She kneeled down the cushion; her legs folded neatly and rested comfortably reaching the floor.
"Not if that's what you want, koishii." He bent over and dropped a kiss to her forehead and stroked her hair, as if to make the old man who was watching twitch. And he walked away opening the other side which is the porch, opening a refreshing view of a small Japanese garden. When Aoshi is far from ear shot, she looked into the old man's eyes and smiled.
Okina came directly to the point, "Takani Megumi, I want Aoshi to marry someone that came from a fighting clan." The words are firmly and calmly spoken.
"I know, Aoshi told me."
"Typical Japanese women do not strive for their own strength and protection, they needed to be watched over and taken care of. He has to marry someone who is head strong and can understand what great responsibility he has, and keep up with it and knowing why. Being submissive is a sign of great deal of weakness, and I'm afraid, is common to the regular people and is bound to tradition how typical Japanese women are raised."
Megumi looked at him quietly. "That is true. However submissiveness means different things to different people. To me it means yielding to authority, and for this world to survive we must have authority. To others it may mean admitting to being inferior, being humble, meek, submitting oneself to dominance without any effort to control one's destiny. The latter meaning does not apply to me, Okina-san." Okina's face gave no inking of what he was thinking. The dark eyes continued to look at her. He was a true sensei worth to be Aoshi's mentor, Megumi decided.
He repeatedly stroked his white beard. Observing her more, "Do you love Aoshi or did you marry him because of his connections?"
The question caught Megumi unaware and she sat silently for a moment before she spoke. The mood in the room starts to be increasingly tense and disturbingly quiet, so unlike the peaceful garden just outside the room. "Okina-san, I will tell you frankly that I married him because I yearned for someone of my own, a kazoku. Since the wedding, however, I have come to love him very much. He is the man I dreamed about when I was a child---- protective, dependable and self-assured. The fact that holds an important post for leading this clan and connections just happens to be an added factor and can be very well being more of a hindrance to my happiness than a benefit."
"I want him to be happy. He never tells me much about his personal affairs but he told me that he loves you. I'll have to accept you."
"Arigato gozaimasu, Okina-san. I'll try not to disappoint you. I want Aoshi to be happy, too. I hope that can be a basis for a friendship between us."
"We will have some tea then," The old man took a small silver bell from his pocket and in a few minutes a female servant came in carrying a set of tea into the room
When Aoshi returned, they were drinking tea and chatting easily. He came to reach her and reached for her hand. She looked up at him with all the love in her heart in her eyes, forgetting, momentarily, that his sensei is watching. She got to her feet and he pulled her close to him. Snapping dark eyes, undimmed despite the advancing years, watched them intently.
"I will send for you when the meal is ready," he said to Megumi, dismissing her briskly. "Aoshi and I have much to talk about."
Aoshi squeezed her hand then she went to the door.
"I am an old man and have not long wait for you to settle down, I want to see you have a family of your own." The words reached Megumi as she left the room and her lips lifted into a grin. She had quite liked the wise sensei, and the interview had gone much better than she had hoped, and there was lightness to her step as she went through the corridors and to the adjoining section of the dojo to her room she would share with Aoshi.
At her few steps near the room she came to an abrupt halt. She felt like a dagger has just zinged past her head and that it hits precisely to the room's sliding screen. Alarmed with the sudden attack, Megumi gasped in surprise and turned around and saw a woman in a tight black outfit and skirt she presumed was a ninja; was glaring at her with the same snapping look in the eyes like Okina's. She looks like she is in her late teens to her early 20's, and is wearing both sides of her brown hair in pig tails in an effort to keep away from her face. The way she glared at her, made Megumi took a step backward, the woman's hatred was so obvious.
This must be Moriya Misanagi, she realized. The okashira of the Sanada clan. She looks surprisingly young for her position, and look more she can pass as Aoshi's younger sister rather than as his arranged bride. Megumi felt sorry for her, but the pity left as soon as the woman spoke.
"You'll never be accepted. A nobody from nowhere! He only married you because he was still furious with Master Okina--- who is trying to bring us together for the possible better future of our clans! He'll understand that soon enough and nothing will be changed between us." The words were said with such contempt that a chill crept over Megumi's skin.
"Sou desu ka?" Anger warmed her.
"I have known Aoshi long before you even do, and our tribes have come to an agreement so I can take my place beside him as his wife."
"An agreement?" Megumi looked her up and down insolently. "You mean even then no one thought you'd be able find a husband on your own with your status?" She stepped turned her back and went into her room, closed the door, and leaned against it. She was breathless with anger but rather proud that her parting shot had rendered Misanagi speechless.
She took deep breaths to calm herself and began to dress for dinner. By the time Aoshi came to the room she was already calm. He looked her up and down and smiled.
"Okina-sensei is not quite so sure I made a disastrous mistake as he first thought. You must have held your own with him."
"I tried. He's naturally concerned for your welfare. I can't fault him for that."
She caught the sparkle in his silent pale blue eyes. Happiness engulfed her like a tidal wave and washed Misanagi's words from her mind. She was actually beginning to think of herself as his wife, his love. Careful, she cautioned. This was all so new and heady she must not forget that he once spite the "old-fashioned" relationship between one man and one woman.
"Don't let Misanagi get under your skin." He was coming toward her with the box containing the bejeweled white jade comb hair clip she had worn at the wedding. "She revived connections with the Oniwabanshus and will be around a lot. You might as well get used to her."
Megumi went slightly numb on hearing this news, but managed a faint smile. Aoshi gently and effortlessly tried to fix her hair secured with the comb clip from his hands. "This was gift given to the family of Okina-sensei ever since he was a young boy; tradition has it that each predecessor to the oniwabanshu will have this as a gift to his bride. He never did get married and he was about to be a great leader, but he declines it and offered me instead to fill in the position. I of course inherited the treasure, but I never minded about it, since marriage was then the least thing on my mind." He said, admiring her silently and pleased with himself as he saw the finished effect in Megumi's hair. It made her look much livelier. "But so to speak, time flies and people change. I want him to see you wear this tonight."
"Aoshi, no! He might resent-------"
"No, he won't. He knows we are married. The precious heirloom goes to my bride." His mouth curved at one corner. "As far as Okina-sensei is concerned we are married forever. He does not believe in annulment or separation."
Megumi had gone white, "But, you said that.."
"Zannen datta ka hontoi, Megumi?"
"Sorry? About what?" She was dumbfounded, why were they quarreling?
"About marrying me?" He was looking at her as if he seemed to believe that she was deceiving him in some way.
"No!"
Now was not the time to tell him that she was frightened because he didn't believe in romantic love. And terrified that he was having an affair with Misanagi. She couldn't tell him anything. I still don't know him, she whispered soundlessly to herself when he turned away from her to go into the adjoining bathroom.
She was standing getting herself from fresh night air at the porch when he came back into the room. He heard him rummaging about in his closet, and then felt his presence beside her.
"It'll take me forever----can you put these for me?" He held out the cuffs of the sleeves of his clothes, a layer of deep purple and black, his uniform to indicate his status in the Oniwabanshu. When she looked up, all traces of irritation were gone from his face. She smiled at him and with fumbling fingers fixed the cuffs of his sleeves. When she finished, he leaned toward her and kissed her very lightly on the nose.
"It's getting to be a habit." He said.
"What is?"
"Wanting to kiss you." He said lightly, and almost smiling. And it was hard to keep from communicating all the love she wanted to give him. She covered her confusion with a light laugh and twisted away from him.
*****
They entered the dining room with her hand tucked firmly in the crook of his arm. Aoshi's master was seated at the table and next to him stood Misanagi. There was no mistaking the hostility in her eyes.
Aoshi's arm slid around her, possessively, and urged her toward the two people.
"Megumi, I want you to meet Moriya Misanagi of Sanada clan."
Megumi forced her stiff lips to smile and nodded to the woman.
"Misanagi, my wife, Megumi."
The pale lips barely moved, "Oneesan."
Aoshi bowed lightly to Okina and on impulse Megumi did the same. The old man looked long and hard at the white jade clip crowned on Megumi's hair before he smiled. "The hair ornament becomes you. Did Aoshi tell you that it is passed from generations to the would be oni's leader's bride?"
"Yes he did, Okina-san. And I was proud to wear it on mine."
It was not as difficult a meal to get through as Megumi had anticipated. Aoshi made sure she was included in the conversation and as time went on and Misanagi remained silent, it became easier.
Okina left them as soon as dinner was finished. Aoshi assists him to his room and Megumi, not wanting to remain alone with Misanagi, walked out into the large training hall and then went straight to her room.
Her honeymoon was almost over. Tomorrow they would be heading back to Kyoto. She had almost succeeded in banishing the doubt that's he was incapable of filling the position demanded as Aoshi's wife. The last four days had been the most wonderful days of her life and anything that could happen to her in the future would pale in comparison.
She was standing beside the screen door when she heard Aoshi's voice from the other side of the dojo from another area of the porch.
"That's nonsense, Misanagi. You must leave." His voice was cold and biting in the way it could be when he was running out of patience
"But why did you do it, Aoshi? Why did you marry that."
"I don't have to justify my actions to you. I never gave you any reason to believe I'd marry you."
"I know you Aoshi, are you in love with her?"
There was the briefest of hesitations, then, "That need not concern you. Our relationship has not changed, Misanagi. Megumi will not interfere."
"I don't want her to know." The tone in Misanagi's voice quivered.
"She won't know unless you tell her. I didn't know what you're worrying about. I'll still to look after you, you know that. But you must adjust to this new situation."
"I hate her!" This was hissed with fiery venom.
There is arrogance in Aoshi's voice, "Well, I don't."
"So you don't love her? Tell me."
Patiently in a stiff demeanor, Aoshi said "I don't think that need concern us, Misanagi."
The words trailed away. They were moving into the next section of the dojo.
The word "us" echoed in Megumi's brain, as, white-faced and sick at heart, she turned and went to the bathroom. There the door closed behind her, she took great sobbing breaths while she fought for control. It was quite obvious that something is going on between Aoshi and Misanagi. She wanted so desperately to believe that he would come to love her as she loved him. Now she feared that he never intended to be a faithful husband at all. She stared at her white face in the mirror. You are gullible, dumb.broad, Takani Megumi! Does history has to repeat itself painfully all over again? Tell him to bug off, you don't need him. Her eyes filled again, What if she was wrong? Either way she couldn't let him go.
Later, when she had gone to bed, Aoshi came into the room. "What's the matter, Megumi?" He sat down beside her, "Do you have a headache?"
She nodded and pressed her hands to her temples. She wanted to scream.liar! Instead she gritted her teeth and whispered almost inaudibly, "Let me sleep. I'll be alright in the morning."
"Sure. Go to sleep."
Aoshi got up, changed clothes and came back to lie next to her, putting his arm around her. She felt his kiss on her shoulder before he settled back and was almost instantly asleep, his breathing coming gently against her back.
(Translations: sou desu ka= is that so? Oneesan= "lady" older sister, woman.an honorary term, kazoku=family, goroujin= elder, tsuma= wife, koibito and koishii= darling or sweetheart in those who are in serious relationships. Zannen datta ka hontoi= are you sorry already)
They proceed to Osaka, the couple stopped to pay a visit to Aoshi's sensei, Okina at a secluded dojo near the mountains. When they reached the dojo's entrance they were met by a matronly old woman dressed in a black kimono. Aoshi was hugged like a favorite son and he showed his respect by bowing low and introduced Megumi.
"This is Matsuki-san, she has been with my sensei for many years and ever since they moved here in Osaka. They are about the same age." He explained this to Megumi, and then spoke more slowly to the woman. "Is Okina-sensei well, Matsuki?"
She made a gesture with her hands. "Hai. But he is meditating in his room. Take your bride to the room adjacent to the dojo and rest. I will tell your sensei later that you have brought your new tsuma to him. Do not be surprised if he is angry." The old woman laughed. "But not as angry as Moriya Misanagi, ne?"
Matsuki's frankness caused questions to swirl through Megumi's mind. How was she going to face this hostile goroujin? Would she feel once again, like the unwanted child thrust into a foster home? Pride surfaced. No, by damn! If his sensei didn't like her, tough!
"Don't worry," Aoshi said later on, as he led her to Okina's room. "He's disappointed that I didn't marry Misanagi, who is an Okashira of the Sanada clan who happens to drop by the dojo every now and then. But when he gets to know you it will be all right. He gives in where I'm concerned. You'll see."
"I hope so."
But her uneasiness grew as they walked through the steps, leading inside to corridors before they finally went to a room. What thoughts are going through his head, she wondered? How was she going to bear up the strain of living with him, knowing he only liked her and was more than satisfied with their sexual relationship, but didn't love her? Would the decision she made to marry him demand more of her than she would be able to bear?
Aoshi puts his hand at the wide sliding screen door. "Just be yourself. You look beautiful," he murmured.
They walked in the cool, quiet room. At first Megumi thought it was empty because the old man dressed in neutral colors sitting down a cushion blended with his surroundings. With her hand firmly clasped in his, Aoshi led her forward, and then bent down in one knee to the floor as a sign of respect of the man who became his mentor. His blue gaze, shifted to Okina's bleary look, like he was rudely disturbed from his daily ritual. Okina looks friendly, and quite strong for his age, only there is something unsettling the way he gazes at them. Megumi noticed that he has suffered a head injury, his head bound tightly with a gauze and one eye seems bleaker. Then she recalled Okon's tale about the fatal showdown the two once had that nearly cost the old man's life. It's a reunion between two masters, and yet there is a gap still between them that remains best unspoken.
Aoshi rose to his feet, pressing her hand. "Here she is, Okina-sensei. I told you she was beautiful." His voice was soft, almost reverent. Okina's dark bright eyes looked steadily at Megumi as she looked steadily back. Instinct told her this man would look with contempt on any one who stood meekly, passively, under his stare. She pulled her hand from Aoshi's and made a low bow to the man who sat so stoically.
"I'm glad to meet you, Okina-san." It seemed to Megumi that she bowed low for ages before the goroujin acknowledge it with a terse nod.
"Sit down." He was still looking at Megumi and his words were more of a command than an invitation. Megumi walked back a few steps to an identical soft floor cushion, but before she kneeled down the man looked at Aoshi. "Leave us." His blue eyes told her he wouldn't go if he wanted her to stay. He gave Okina a firm gaze, and folds his arms across his chest. The two men hardly communicate by words and a tension seems to rise, and their thoughts are obvious with their actions. Megumi smiled at him.
"I think your sensei and I should get to know one another on an in-law to in-law basis, ne koibito. Do you mind?" She kneeled down the cushion; her legs folded neatly and rested comfortably reaching the floor.
"Not if that's what you want, koishii." He bent over and dropped a kiss to her forehead and stroked her hair, as if to make the old man who was watching twitch. And he walked away opening the other side which is the porch, opening a refreshing view of a small Japanese garden. When Aoshi is far from ear shot, she looked into the old man's eyes and smiled.
Okina came directly to the point, "Takani Megumi, I want Aoshi to marry someone that came from a fighting clan." The words are firmly and calmly spoken.
"I know, Aoshi told me."
"Typical Japanese women do not strive for their own strength and protection, they needed to be watched over and taken care of. He has to marry someone who is head strong and can understand what great responsibility he has, and keep up with it and knowing why. Being submissive is a sign of great deal of weakness, and I'm afraid, is common to the regular people and is bound to tradition how typical Japanese women are raised."
Megumi looked at him quietly. "That is true. However submissiveness means different things to different people. To me it means yielding to authority, and for this world to survive we must have authority. To others it may mean admitting to being inferior, being humble, meek, submitting oneself to dominance without any effort to control one's destiny. The latter meaning does not apply to me, Okina-san." Okina's face gave no inking of what he was thinking. The dark eyes continued to look at her. He was a true sensei worth to be Aoshi's mentor, Megumi decided.
He repeatedly stroked his white beard. Observing her more, "Do you love Aoshi or did you marry him because of his connections?"
The question caught Megumi unaware and she sat silently for a moment before she spoke. The mood in the room starts to be increasingly tense and disturbingly quiet, so unlike the peaceful garden just outside the room. "Okina-san, I will tell you frankly that I married him because I yearned for someone of my own, a kazoku. Since the wedding, however, I have come to love him very much. He is the man I dreamed about when I was a child---- protective, dependable and self-assured. The fact that holds an important post for leading this clan and connections just happens to be an added factor and can be very well being more of a hindrance to my happiness than a benefit."
"I want him to be happy. He never tells me much about his personal affairs but he told me that he loves you. I'll have to accept you."
"Arigato gozaimasu, Okina-san. I'll try not to disappoint you. I want Aoshi to be happy, too. I hope that can be a basis for a friendship between us."
"We will have some tea then," The old man took a small silver bell from his pocket and in a few minutes a female servant came in carrying a set of tea into the room
When Aoshi returned, they were drinking tea and chatting easily. He came to reach her and reached for her hand. She looked up at him with all the love in her heart in her eyes, forgetting, momentarily, that his sensei is watching. She got to her feet and he pulled her close to him. Snapping dark eyes, undimmed despite the advancing years, watched them intently.
"I will send for you when the meal is ready," he said to Megumi, dismissing her briskly. "Aoshi and I have much to talk about."
Aoshi squeezed her hand then she went to the door.
"I am an old man and have not long wait for you to settle down, I want to see you have a family of your own." The words reached Megumi as she left the room and her lips lifted into a grin. She had quite liked the wise sensei, and the interview had gone much better than she had hoped, and there was lightness to her step as she went through the corridors and to the adjoining section of the dojo to her room she would share with Aoshi.
At her few steps near the room she came to an abrupt halt. She felt like a dagger has just zinged past her head and that it hits precisely to the room's sliding screen. Alarmed with the sudden attack, Megumi gasped in surprise and turned around and saw a woman in a tight black outfit and skirt she presumed was a ninja; was glaring at her with the same snapping look in the eyes like Okina's. She looks like she is in her late teens to her early 20's, and is wearing both sides of her brown hair in pig tails in an effort to keep away from her face. The way she glared at her, made Megumi took a step backward, the woman's hatred was so obvious.
This must be Moriya Misanagi, she realized. The okashira of the Sanada clan. She looks surprisingly young for her position, and look more she can pass as Aoshi's younger sister rather than as his arranged bride. Megumi felt sorry for her, but the pity left as soon as the woman spoke.
"You'll never be accepted. A nobody from nowhere! He only married you because he was still furious with Master Okina--- who is trying to bring us together for the possible better future of our clans! He'll understand that soon enough and nothing will be changed between us." The words were said with such contempt that a chill crept over Megumi's skin.
"Sou desu ka?" Anger warmed her.
"I have known Aoshi long before you even do, and our tribes have come to an agreement so I can take my place beside him as his wife."
"An agreement?" Megumi looked her up and down insolently. "You mean even then no one thought you'd be able find a husband on your own with your status?" She stepped turned her back and went into her room, closed the door, and leaned against it. She was breathless with anger but rather proud that her parting shot had rendered Misanagi speechless.
She took deep breaths to calm herself and began to dress for dinner. By the time Aoshi came to the room she was already calm. He looked her up and down and smiled.
"Okina-sensei is not quite so sure I made a disastrous mistake as he first thought. You must have held your own with him."
"I tried. He's naturally concerned for your welfare. I can't fault him for that."
She caught the sparkle in his silent pale blue eyes. Happiness engulfed her like a tidal wave and washed Misanagi's words from her mind. She was actually beginning to think of herself as his wife, his love. Careful, she cautioned. This was all so new and heady she must not forget that he once spite the "old-fashioned" relationship between one man and one woman.
"Don't let Misanagi get under your skin." He was coming toward her with the box containing the bejeweled white jade comb hair clip she had worn at the wedding. "She revived connections with the Oniwabanshus and will be around a lot. You might as well get used to her."
Megumi went slightly numb on hearing this news, but managed a faint smile. Aoshi gently and effortlessly tried to fix her hair secured with the comb clip from his hands. "This was gift given to the family of Okina-sensei ever since he was a young boy; tradition has it that each predecessor to the oniwabanshu will have this as a gift to his bride. He never did get married and he was about to be a great leader, but he declines it and offered me instead to fill in the position. I of course inherited the treasure, but I never minded about it, since marriage was then the least thing on my mind." He said, admiring her silently and pleased with himself as he saw the finished effect in Megumi's hair. It made her look much livelier. "But so to speak, time flies and people change. I want him to see you wear this tonight."
"Aoshi, no! He might resent-------"
"No, he won't. He knows we are married. The precious heirloom goes to my bride." His mouth curved at one corner. "As far as Okina-sensei is concerned we are married forever. He does not believe in annulment or separation."
Megumi had gone white, "But, you said that.."
"Zannen datta ka hontoi, Megumi?"
"Sorry? About what?" She was dumbfounded, why were they quarreling?
"About marrying me?" He was looking at her as if he seemed to believe that she was deceiving him in some way.
"No!"
Now was not the time to tell him that she was frightened because he didn't believe in romantic love. And terrified that he was having an affair with Misanagi. She couldn't tell him anything. I still don't know him, she whispered soundlessly to herself when he turned away from her to go into the adjoining bathroom.
She was standing getting herself from fresh night air at the porch when he came back into the room. He heard him rummaging about in his closet, and then felt his presence beside her.
"It'll take me forever----can you put these for me?" He held out the cuffs of the sleeves of his clothes, a layer of deep purple and black, his uniform to indicate his status in the Oniwabanshu. When she looked up, all traces of irritation were gone from his face. She smiled at him and with fumbling fingers fixed the cuffs of his sleeves. When she finished, he leaned toward her and kissed her very lightly on the nose.
"It's getting to be a habit." He said.
"What is?"
"Wanting to kiss you." He said lightly, and almost smiling. And it was hard to keep from communicating all the love she wanted to give him. She covered her confusion with a light laugh and twisted away from him.
*****
They entered the dining room with her hand tucked firmly in the crook of his arm. Aoshi's master was seated at the table and next to him stood Misanagi. There was no mistaking the hostility in her eyes.
Aoshi's arm slid around her, possessively, and urged her toward the two people.
"Megumi, I want you to meet Moriya Misanagi of Sanada clan."
Megumi forced her stiff lips to smile and nodded to the woman.
"Misanagi, my wife, Megumi."
The pale lips barely moved, "Oneesan."
Aoshi bowed lightly to Okina and on impulse Megumi did the same. The old man looked long and hard at the white jade clip crowned on Megumi's hair before he smiled. "The hair ornament becomes you. Did Aoshi tell you that it is passed from generations to the would be oni's leader's bride?"
"Yes he did, Okina-san. And I was proud to wear it on mine."
It was not as difficult a meal to get through as Megumi had anticipated. Aoshi made sure she was included in the conversation and as time went on and Misanagi remained silent, it became easier.
Okina left them as soon as dinner was finished. Aoshi assists him to his room and Megumi, not wanting to remain alone with Misanagi, walked out into the large training hall and then went straight to her room.
Her honeymoon was almost over. Tomorrow they would be heading back to Kyoto. She had almost succeeded in banishing the doubt that's he was incapable of filling the position demanded as Aoshi's wife. The last four days had been the most wonderful days of her life and anything that could happen to her in the future would pale in comparison.
She was standing beside the screen door when she heard Aoshi's voice from the other side of the dojo from another area of the porch.
"That's nonsense, Misanagi. You must leave." His voice was cold and biting in the way it could be when he was running out of patience
"But why did you do it, Aoshi? Why did you marry that."
"I don't have to justify my actions to you. I never gave you any reason to believe I'd marry you."
"I know you Aoshi, are you in love with her?"
There was the briefest of hesitations, then, "That need not concern you. Our relationship has not changed, Misanagi. Megumi will not interfere."
"I don't want her to know." The tone in Misanagi's voice quivered.
"She won't know unless you tell her. I didn't know what you're worrying about. I'll still to look after you, you know that. But you must adjust to this new situation."
"I hate her!" This was hissed with fiery venom.
There is arrogance in Aoshi's voice, "Well, I don't."
"So you don't love her? Tell me."
Patiently in a stiff demeanor, Aoshi said "I don't think that need concern us, Misanagi."
The words trailed away. They were moving into the next section of the dojo.
The word "us" echoed in Megumi's brain, as, white-faced and sick at heart, she turned and went to the bathroom. There the door closed behind her, she took great sobbing breaths while she fought for control. It was quite obvious that something is going on between Aoshi and Misanagi. She wanted so desperately to believe that he would come to love her as she loved him. Now she feared that he never intended to be a faithful husband at all. She stared at her white face in the mirror. You are gullible, dumb.broad, Takani Megumi! Does history has to repeat itself painfully all over again? Tell him to bug off, you don't need him. Her eyes filled again, What if she was wrong? Either way she couldn't let him go.
Later, when she had gone to bed, Aoshi came into the room. "What's the matter, Megumi?" He sat down beside her, "Do you have a headache?"
She nodded and pressed her hands to her temples. She wanted to scream.liar! Instead she gritted her teeth and whispered almost inaudibly, "Let me sleep. I'll be alright in the morning."
"Sure. Go to sleep."
Aoshi got up, changed clothes and came back to lie next to her, putting his arm around her. She felt his kiss on her shoulder before he settled back and was almost instantly asleep, his breathing coming gently against her back.
(Translations: sou desu ka= is that so? Oneesan= "lady" older sister, woman.an honorary term, kazoku=family, goroujin= elder, tsuma= wife, koibito and koishii= darling or sweetheart in those who are in serious relationships. Zannen datta ka hontoi= are you sorry already)