Catching hold of you
Minnaaaaaaa !! It has been such a while !!! Gomen gomen gomen gomen for not uploading anything during such a long time. I have had very serious hardware problems with my computer, which made I lost all my work - including the first part of this chapter, that I had to rewrite entirely. Adding to this my first days in my new high school where I got more work than I could ever handle, I was kind of depressed, and my will for writing felt the effects of it.
BUT, I want to thank very very very much everyone who supported me, friends and readers, especially reviewers. When I read their kind reviews, I immediately felt better. It really means a lot to me. SO, VERY BIG THANKS TO : CrazedButCalm, Seychella, Bumblebee-Queen, Dementedchris, le bleu phenix, g3ozLizh, Koia, Mica-chan, SilverNimbus, sunny, Akari_saxy, Jac'Kee, Kartos, Serena, card_mistress, ShadowKat and Mute Button for their kind reviews !!!!!
Thanks to all people who sent me emails too. And special thankies to Kartos who added me in its favourite authors !!!! I jumped from my seat when I saw this !!! It truly makes me so happy !!
Now read and enjoy !!! Please review minna !!
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Chapter 5: Don't show your weaknesses
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As she caught Misao's staggered expression, Yukiko's smile widened the slightest bit. Her eyes narrowed, gleaming insanely, as if she took malicious pleasure in astonishing the younger girl in front of her.
"Why are you suprised?", she asked, defiantly scanning Misao's eyes. "Aoshi and I studied together. He was my mate when we learned how to use kodachi and…"
Yukiko moved swiftly, gracefully jumping in the air to land a few meters away from Misao, and with an incredible agility she adopted her pose to start the fight, her short blade ahead of her face.
"… how to use kempo, too. Do you think to be up to it, Misao-chan?"
A lump came to Misao's throat. Who was this girl? Had she come to the Aoiya with the only intention of humiliating her? Of course she was not up to it. In no way she could hold its own against Aoshi-sama, but this woman could. Yukiko had a level of fighting she had not, she knew that already. Misao's eyes frowned, her teeth clenched. Even though she was not match for Yukiko, even though she could get wounded or even worse, she was going to take up the challenge. Maybe she wouldn't make Yukiko stifle her sarcasm, but at least she'd show her that the bravest was not necessarily the one Yukiko thought. Placing a huge grin on her face, Misao braced herself for Yukiko's attack and answered.
"Ok, come on. I'm waiting for you."
Yukiko's smile grew wider. Misao's vision became blurred, and a second later, Yukiko had disappeared. Everything took place in a millisecond, but to Misao it seemed an eternity. Time seemed to have slowed down to the extreme limit. She saw Yukiko's blade shining in the darkness just above her, the older ninja merging in the shadows. The sword was crashing down on her, but… she was unable… to move… Everything seemed so slow… almost motionless… But if she didn't move, that sword was going to injure her…
NOW !!
Something screamed in her mind and Misao tore herself from her drowsiness, throwing her body out of Yukiko's way, guided by an incredible and unknown strength. Immediately, the whole world found its usual speed again, and Misao felt snatched in a staggering whirl of images and sensations. As her elbow hit the ground, hard, she heard Yukiko's kodachi sinking into the parquet floor, where she was standing less than a second earlier. Misao rolled over the floor and got up a few meters away, slightly shaking but unharmed.
Don't loosen your guard!
But Yukiko didn't seem disposed to fight back just right now. Instead of that, she was standing in the middle of the training hall, looking at Misao with a half smile on her lovely face, as though slightly amused.
"Not bad, Misao-chan, not so bad. Even if I thought during a moment you wouldn't move to dodge."
Then her usual defiant grin took its place on her lips again, and she spoke in a casual tone, tearing her sword off from the floor with a cold rustling.
"Second round, now. Try to attack me, Misao-chan."
Without even taking time to breathe, Misao jumped and ran towards Yukiko. At the same time, her fingers slipped along her thigh and met the reassuring coldness of metal. Clutching her fist on her kunai, she let out a long battle cry and hurtled four knives at her opponent; then, without a look to see if the strike had hit its aim, she jumped to the ground and threw her heels towards Yukiko's face in a supple flip.
But when she expected to meet soft flesh and tough bones, her feet only mixed emptiness. And as Misao tried to recover her balance to land on the feet, she dreadfully felt long and cold fingers knotting around her ankle with uncommon strength that hurled her to the floor. Misao desperately tried to hit Yukiko wherever she could reach her, but her fists only met air, and as she felt thrown out to the ground, a lightning pain went through her right side, where the hilt of Yukiko's sword banged her, and radiated through her whole body.
Misao bit her lip till the blood came to hold back a scream of pain, as Yukiko release her ankle and as she fell on the ground, her head hitting the wooden floor, She wasn't feeling anything at all as her mind was clouded by the suffering coming from her right side. And, terrifying, a thought flashed in her mind.
I'm going to die. She's going to kill me.
Gathering her last strength, her every thought concentrated on not letting herself get killed, Misao managed to get up, casting aside the pain, ready to dodge Yukiko's next strike.
Don't show your weaknesses…
Yet Yukiko didn't even try to attack. Instead of striking, she slid her kodachi back in its sheath, hanging in her back, and she came towards Misao, looking both concerned and slightly amused.
"Hey, Misao-chan, are you alright? I think we should stop now… I don't want anyone of us to get hurt, it's only a training fight after all. Thanks for the match."
And with that, she bent over to take her leave and left Misao alone in the training hall. Still in a haze, Misao's eyes followed her until she got out of the room, as the young onmitsu girl kept her face impassive, not showing a hint of pain. But as soon as the slim shadow of the young woman disappeared, the ache knocked Misao down and she collasped on the floor. Leaning against the wall, she curled in a ball, tears rising in her eyes as she pressed her hands on her injured ribs to try and soothe the burning pain that spread up to her limbs. Even her breathing was painful: every gulp of air sent like needles of fire all along her body.
Misao didn't know whether her injury was really serious or painful but superficial; her mind couldn't get rid of the suffering. Finally, she curled in foetal position, her wound not being so painful that way, and, exhausted and having no strength left, she fell asleep.
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When Misao woke up, the sun was declining on the snowy landscape in the doorframe of the training hall. It had to be late afternoon, as winter sun set early. She rubbed her eyes, and again the pain flashed through her being. But it had rather calmed down, and was quite bearable now. Misao stretched her stiff limbs: her ankle and knee, where Yukiko had grabbed her, hurt like hell, and her head panged as though something in it wanted to come out. Her breathing still hurt too, but she had gathered enough strength now to bear it. Leaning against the wall, she managed to get up. She felt weak, but her legs were robust enough to support her weight. Actually, it was not so bad, even though her ankle was slightly swollen - but her right side had to be really injured, as every step tore her a bit more. Maybe she had a broken rib.
Misao went out of the training hall, her walk slightly hesitant and unsure, but she managed to hide quite well that she was hurting. No way she was going to show to everyone that Yukiko had beaten her up easily, and how terrible she had to look like precisely now. And she was realizing how stupid she had been: of course Yukiko was going to injure her to death, not here, in the Aoiya, probably nowhere anyway. Misao had been so blinded by her hatred towards the young woman and by her will to win, that she hadn't considered that it was only a training match, no real fight. Had she only told that she was hurt, Yukiko would certainly have stopped.
But it was too late for complaining; she had been stupid, and now she was wounded and in need of help. How was she going to manage to catch bandages and medicines without anyone noticing? As she was inwardly debating the question, Misao reached the main building of the Aoiya.
Everything seemed quiet. No one was to be seen. Okina was probably gone for a walk; the others had to be cleaning the restaurant room. And that bitch of Yukiko… Misao didn't care the slightest bit. In hell would be appreciated.
Misao edged her way into the corridor, making sure she was as soundless as a mere shadow. The whole building was silent; it definitely had to be deserted by everyone. She let out a loud breathing she was not even aware she had been holding back. No one would see her in such a pitiful condition. Fast, but not as fast as usual because of her wound that pierced her with painful shivers, she climbed the stairs to take refuge in her private room. But as she reached the last step and started walking silently in the twilight of the corridor, leaning on the wall, a steady and cool voice resounded from behind her.
"Misao, are you alright?"
Misao stopped dead and froze. The world seemed to crush on her.
No… Not him!
This wasn't happening. She just couldn't have to come across him while she was looking so appalling and when she just had been miserably beaten by Yukiko, revealing her own weakness. Why on earth had it to be Aoshi?!
Misao straightened her back and tried her best to place a huge genki grin on her face; but it was a waste of time as pain flashed again in her ribs, making her frown slightly. She tried anyway to cast it aside and answered in a voice as reassuring as possible.
"Oh yes, I'm ok, don't worry, Aoshi-sama."
But Aoshi's eyebrows were set, and he stretched his hand to touch Misao's right side. Again, suffering radiated through Misao whole being as Aoshi had just pressed on the most painful point of her injured ribcage, and she let out despite herself a small moan of pain. Cursing herself, she bit her lip and, not even thinking of what she was doing, she knocked Aoshi's hand out of the way with her elbow and tried to protect the injury with her arm, blocking it from Aoshi. Her pearly teeth were making small bloody prints on her lip as tears of pain came to her eyes.
"Misao?"
Misao raised her eyes to Aoshi's, glaring at him with resentment. It hurt, dammit! But his eyes held in their icy depths confusion and softness, mixed with slight anger. Misao tried to swallow her tears back, ashamed by her own lack of resistance against pain and confused by Aoshi's expression. Her voice less and less assured, she kept protesting, shaking slightly.
"I'm alright, Aoshi-sama, just…"
But she couldn't end up her sentence as she left lifted up by two strong arms and lightly pressed against a warm, muscular chest. Misao shrieked and tried to catch hold of whatever she could grab… and found herself with her arms tied around Aoshi's neck. A deep blush spread on her heated cheeks, but Aoshi needn't seem to notice, as he started walking quietly, readjusting his hold around Misao's back and legs to carry her without hurting her more. Misao bent her head to hide her deep red cheeks. Had she known, she thought with a small smile, she would have gotten hurt ages ago…
Aoshi came to his room, he lightly kicked the shoji open, walked towards his futon and laid Misao down on the bed. Not even daring to breathe, she looked at him as he grabbed her shirt and… started taking it off?!
Whaaaaaaaaat???!!
Misao flushed furiously and hugged herself tightly, stopping Aoshi from removing her shirt or even doing anything else. Her cheeks were burning and she didn't dare to look at Aoshi, her breathing heavy and quick.
But what on earth is he thinking?!!
"Misao, what on earth are you thinking?"
Miso raised her embarrassed eyes and met Aoshi's cool blue-grey ones, looking slightly perplexed and irritated. Aoshi went on quietly.
"How do you want me to tend your injury if I don't take your shirt off?"
Misao blushed even more at her misunderstanding. Bending her head once more, she nodded and removed her shirt with Aoshi's help, as her wound hurt like hell when she had to move her torso. She immediately crossed her arms on her chest to hide her bandaged breasts. Aoshi didn't - or at least pretended not to - notice, and only pushed Misao's arm lightly back to have a better view on her injury. His eyes widened slightly.
Indeed, the wound was quite impressive. Misao's skin had turned to purple-blue on several inches, and was grazed where the bruise was the darkest. It had stopped bleeding, but obviously it had bled since her chest bandage was soiled with blood. The rib didn't seem broken, but it was certainly cracked.
Aoshi's eyebrow twitched in anger.
"Who did that?"
Misao bit her lip again. What was she supposed to say? Part of her would have been ecstatic to denounce Yukiko, but… it would have meant that she had to acknowledge her own defeat, her own weakness and her inability to defend herself, to vie with the young woman in a fight… And this was the last thing she wanted to admit in front of Aoshi, especially when she saw him expressing such respect to that woman because of her skills… If he ever thought that she wasn't worth of his attention because she wasn't even able to launch a fight decently, that she didn't fit in the Oniwabanshuu… she couldn't stand it…
"I tripped in the stairs", Misao lied with a stern voice. She knew Aoshi knew that she was lying when she saw him raise his eyebrow questioningly, but she didn't add anything, remaining mute. Aoshi seemed to be satisfied with that version of the facts and didn't ask any other question.
Aoshi got up and caught a box on one of his shelves. His room was very simply furnished, quite impersonal; his only personal things were very carefully ranked on one of the shelves, like this box. Aoshi opened it; it happened to be a first-aid box. Without uttering a word, he grabbed some bandages and a little goblet full of a yellow-greenish ointment. He knelt down by Misao, and started applying the cream on her injury, massaging lightly, making sure he wasn't hurting her. At first, the ointment stung, but the pain numbed fast thanks to the medicine and Misao only felt Aoshi's fingers on her skin.
It felt good. His fingers were warm and soft, soothing her aching skin. She didn't feel awkward anymore. It just felt nice.
Misao hardly held back an annoyed groan when Aoshi stopped massaging her injury to bandage it as the ointment had totally melted in her skin. He himself didn't seem more concerned than if he was reading a book, but to Misao, it didn't matter. Finally, Aoshi had finished tending her wound, and he got up, inviting her to do so as well. She noticed contently that her side was hardly hurting anymore. It was carefully treated, and the slight ache was very acceptable. She turned back towards Aoshi, her cheeks blushing softly.
"Thank you very much, Aoshi-sama."
Aoshi remained unruffled, but held her the goblet of ointment.
"Keep it for the moment. You'll apply some on your wound twice a day until it heals."
Misao nodded.
"Ok. Arigatou gozaimasu Aoshi-sama."
And she went out, closing the door behind her.
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After Misao had closed his door, Aoshi waited for a short time, just to be sure that she wouldn't be lurking around and wouldn't have the bad idea to follow him. He grabbed his trench coat, but left his kodachi. He didn't need them, they would be too bulky for searching the forest, and if he were ever attacked, kempo would probably be enough. So Aoshi slipped out of his room and silently left the Aoiya to have a walk in the woods.
In fact, he had his very own idea about who could have wounded Misao this way. And he had seen this precise person disappear in the forest a few hours ago. What was difficult now, was to find her in all this snow, but he knew quite well where to find her. The heavy coat of snow covering the iced ground of the forest slowed his path down. Finally, he reached a sort of clearing not far away from the edge of the wood. The landscape looked very different from the last time he had seen it: everything seemed smothered, soothed; the snow softened the lines. Aoshi scanned the clearing, and caught side of long, black hair jutting out from behind a tree trunk. Sighing slightly, he walked towards the young woman leaning against the tree.
"This is where you're hiding, Yuki?"
The girl jumped and turned towards Aoshi.
"I'm not hiding the slightest bit. I knew that you knew I were here."
She got up, dusting the snow from her skirt.
"So what do you want, Aoshi? I was meditating, you interrupted me."
Aoshi's eyes narrowed.
"Why did you hurt Misao?" he asked straight out.
Yukiko shrugged her shoulders.
"I did not mean to hurt her. She didn't dodge my strike, I couldn't do anything else."
Aoshi looked at her, puzzled and annoyed. Of course, he did know that Yukiko was unconcerned about anyone's fate; he knew her persona too well. But then… he knew he couldn't blame her for not understanding… no matter how much it irritated him…
"Yuki, but why? It's so stupid… Why did you fight her? You knew she was no match for you!"
"I wanted to see if you had done good work with your lovely, beloved little protégé, Aoshi…" she answered acidly, almost violently.
Aoshi stared at her. It was one of the very few moments when emotions could be read freely on his face, through his eyes; and just now they reflected confusion, as Aoshi was startled beyond words by Yukiko's revolt. But again his face froze, its mask of unfathomable ice coming back. He grabbed Yukiko by the shoulder and shook her slightly.
"You knew very well I didn't want anyone of both of you to be hurt! Nor you, nor Misao… So why did…"
But he stopped when he caught sight of Yukiko's grimace of pain. Frowning, he took his hand away and, suddenly inspired, he pushed back Yukiko's sleeve to look at her shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw two deep wounds in the creamy skin on her shoulder, like two stabs of knives.
"What…?"
Yukiko diverted her gaze, brushing Aoshi's hand away from her shoulder, and she pulled her sleeve back dowm. Still gazing at something that seemed far, very far away from Aoshi, she muttered in a dull, smothered voice.
"You did good work, Aoshi… Very good work indeed… You should be proud of her…"
Aoshi remained silent, then nodded.
"I am."
Definitely, Misao was no child anymore. And, he thought with a bittersweet pang, she was growing to be a very beautiful woman, and a very good ninja.
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End of chapter 5
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Authors's notes :
Hey minna !! Did you like ? I wanted to write that fight and that little part of sweetness between Aoshi and Misao for quite a long time now. Yet, everything is not won for Misao-chan !! Rivalry is really tough… And Yukiko has not said her last word !
In the next chapter, Misao and Yukiko will have a little conversation in an… unexpected place. And you may learn more about Yukiko and Aoshi old relationship !! Among other things, of course…
Hey minna don't you know ? Reviews are very welcome ^^ !! So please spend 1 lil'minute to leave me your advice !!
