Ah! My Sempai 2 –No, Nii-san it has nothing to do with Ah! Megami-sama o.O-
AN#1: *laughs* I knew someone was going to ask me about the timeline, which was why I decided to put in the following chapter, rather than in the prologue. Pardon me I'm being evil. The storyline takes place after Rurouni Kenshin episode 11, which I suppose is a small prelude to Aoshi's return in the Kyoto Arc i.e. episode 33. The story is only going to focus on Kino Makoto and Shinomori Aoshi hence neither one of the Kenshin-gumi will be included (that'll be in another separate fic, don't worry ^^).
AN#2: There is an obvious piece of evidence that Aoshi has a caring side - Makimachi Misao, a ninja girl who is also part of the Oniwabanshu. I read on a site that she was hurt in a much later episode and Aoshi went to see whether she was okay, obviously showing his concern. Identify him with Kaiba Seto or Fujimiya Ran. Their younger siblings are what bring out these guys' kindness. It's much the same for Aoshi because he treats Misao like his Imouto-chan (well for Misao she REALLY loves him a lot). Another thing, it wasn't his fault that he had become more murderous in most parts of the Kyoto Arc. Mentally he just wasn't himself ^_^;;.
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Makoto's eyelids opened gently. The first colourful object she saw when she opened her eyes happened to be the huge Bonsai tree sitting by her feet. She realised she was in the inn, which was right next to Ayane-san's restaurant. The inn once belonged to Ayane's grandfather before he passed away two years ago and Ayane had been taking care of this and the restaurant at the same time ever since. She was more hardworking than Makoto. Her energy was never lost during busy hours.
As she began to move off the bed, Makoto's green eyes saw that there was a huge red patch staining the bright colour of her Karate Gi. That was from the gash to her left shoulder. There seemed to be a thick padding underneath her clothes and it surprised her how there was a huge amount of bandaging all over her body – not just her left shoulder. Now that she was awake, she felt all parts of her figure had bandages wrapped everywhere, even her feet. The pain on her spine wasn't present anymore, which was a slight relief considering how very realistic her nightmare on being unable to walk no more was.
Makoto was more relieved when she found she was able to walk normally after the brawl from today. She stretched her arms into the air to release the aching tension remaining from her long slumber. The fight she had with those swordsmen took place around the early part of the afternoon so, if her guess was accurate enough, she had been sleeping for at least two hours. The sky was still bright and clear outside from what she could see through the paper layers of the doors. The sun was still shining happily in the sky after all. As the soles of her feet slowly slid across the wooden layers of the floor, she pushed the left door open to walk down the outside hallway, hoping to find where Ayane was.
It was likely that her boss was in the inn somewhere. Who else would have put bandages on Makoto when she found her in the forest? Ayane was one of the only people who knew the forest well like Makoto. She often went there to find the auburn girl if she was training in the afternoon for an hour or two. While she peeked through the other bedrooms, Makoto started to helplessly reminisce the fight she had against those three Samurai today. Damn, that blow she got before being kicked into a tree gave her an aching jaw right now.
"Ayane-san, where are you?" She impatiently whispered, sliding the third bedroom door closed before cautiously walking down. Both her feet were unexpectedly treading far more silently than a minute after leaving her room and it made Makoto feel like a ninja at night, creeping across the rooftops to search for his target. Had her fighting senses come back after her goodnight sleep? Makoto wasn't even trying to tiptoe silently. Her feet almost had thoughts of their own. Ignoring this crazy idea, she approached the last room at the end of this corridor and decided this was going to be her final stop. If Ayane weren't in here then it would mean she had gone back to working in the restaurant once having bandaged Makoto's injured body – it was a guarantee.
There was certainly someone inside the final room at this side of the corner. Makoto knew it had to be Ayane. Judging by the sound of the ruffling clothes behind the closed door, she guessed that her boss was tidying up some of the dirty cloths used to wipe the tables after wiping them clean. Ayane was always in this room, seeing as it was near the entrance of the inn and the exit to the local town. Makoto slid the door open to greet Ayane, pulling off a bright smile on her face.
"Hi, Ayane-san!" However, once she said that and focused her emerald eyes more accurately, she knew it was the wrong person who noticed her presence by the door. It wasn't even a woman who was standing by the door. Makoto never expected HIM to be there, standing quietly by his bed and giving her an impassive glance over his right shoulder. It looked like he had been brooding for a while because he appeared to be observing most of the items in the room.
"Okay you're definitely *not* Ayane-san," Makoto said and gulped down the deep embarrassment building in her throat. She rapidly slid the door shut again and, swearing briefly to herself, fanned her face to get rid of the incoming heat attacking her cheeks. Unfortunately the flush of humiliation had made her leftover bruises all over her face hurt much more as she stood against the door. Makoto must still be half-asleep to do something stupid and clumsy. "I made myself look like a clown there." She lost its balance when the door slid open again. "Uh-oh." Her arms waved up and down in a struggle. Makoto was going to fall. She just knew it. The floor was going to greet her and then the nightmare of having a paralysed back would return to haunt her. This was a bad dream, wasn't it? Somebody had to wake her up this instant before her embarrassment worsened.
Instead of landing on the floor as she feared, Makoto didn't feel any hardness strike her back. In fact, it was soft – much like the surface of the bed she found herself in. Two pairs of hands caught her shoulders, being careful to not press against the recovering injury. OK…so maybe this embarrassment wasn't turning out so bad after all. Two azure orbs greeted a stunned pair of jade pools.
"How are your wounds?" Aoshi asked, his voice sounding unemotional as before. Makoto's head motioned in response to his question, albeit in a robotic gesture as some of her timidity from her silly act just now was flooding back into her as she spoke. He didn't look offended that she just barged into his room without knocking first. This guy must be a good actor to convince her he wasn't angry from her rudeness.
"Uh…I'm okay I guess," She slowly let herself go from his grip to examine her physique carefully in one swift glimpse. He'd probably laugh at her if he saw her face looking more timid. "Yep, I'm pain-free."
"Hey you're awake - finally," Ayane's bright façade appeared out of the blue and a huge pile of folded towels could be seen in her arms. "Did you sleep well?"
"Sure did," Makoto smiled back; this time at the right person. Ayane was a petite woman in her mid-thirties and had a short bob of thick ebony hair that made her much more youthful than her real adult age. Who couldn't blame any man for trying to catch her attention? "Thanks for the bandages."
"Oh it isn't me you should be thanking." Ayane nodded her face towards Aoshi. "Thank him. He was the one who brought you to the inn in the first place." Makoto gawped as she turned her eyes back to the man standing behind her. Hearing that the same guy whom came out of nowhere to give her hand in a fight had taken her to the inn was just not intended.
Lost for words, Makoto scratched her head shyly to the black haired man then bowed formally. "Well uh… thank you." Great, she sounded stupider than before. Couldn't she have shown more gratefulness to this stranger rather sound idiotic? And why wasn't he showing much appreciation to her 'thank you' bow? All he seemed to be doing was staring at the two women, crossing his arms over his chest as if nothing was bothering him. Maybe he wasn't someone who smiled a lot because he had a lot of other things clouding his mind as a heavy distraction. Or perhaps he was seldom happy with anything. Makoto couldn't believe she was studying him in her mind. She was going to become embarrassed yet again if she didn't control herself and do something to keep any suspicion developing on Ayane and Aoshi.
"Hey, Mako-chan, why don't you give me your Gi to wash the blood stain off?" Ayane suggested. What good timing Makoto thought. At least someone was kind enough to snap her out of the tiny observation on the very mysterious swordsman standing nearby. The petite waitress nudged her elbow into Makoto's stomach lightly in a joking manner. "It's not polite to dress shabby in front of a guest now, is it?" Makoto grimaced uncomfortably at the cheeky gesture Ayane demonstrated. Why was this day becoming more awkward by the second? She saw that Aoshi still wasn't offended by any of the events of this amusing show and hadn't said anything since opening the door to his room.
"Fine I'll go change," Makoto replied in a pleasing tone Ayane, shooting a deadly glare to counter the innocent face her boss bared. The auburn haired girl's angry stare lowered when she glanced to Aoshi once more and said, "We need to talk about…things."
After a long period of silence, Aoshi acquiesced to Makoto's statement by answering, "I can wait."
****
Makoto brushed back heaps of her brunette locks so it gave her cheeks a breath of fresh air. The bandages on wounded parts of her physique were removed very quickly before she had put on her kimono. It somehow made her body feel much lighter without the padding that had clung onto her flesh like plaster. Ayane had told her she brought her favourite kimono after 'HE' arrived at the inn to let her rest in the second guest room. Makoto wondered how that woman was so organised. The former was used to seeing her wash plates, serve customers non-stop in the restaurant during busy times and drying the laundry on the clothes' lines.
It was much the same for Makoto except she was given special permission by the restaurant owner to get at least two hours of private exercise in the forest each day. It was the only solution to staying healthy for her age and to keep her defences high. Her hometown hardly had any female fighters around and so far Makoto was the only one who had popped up in the last decade. Aside from her mother of course. Both her parents were skilled Karate students who were essentially Makoto's Senseis. Ever since they passed away, women refused to take up this physical art of combat. Makoto's mother was almost like a role model to weaker females and proved to them that they could be strong if they defended themselves with a few techniques.
But when they saw how Makoto turned out from an adolescent perspective, they found the young girl to be a raving monster, which was an indication to the rest of the women that they didn't want to end up like her. Makoto didn't end up as an aggressive girl from training. It was already within her. Who could blame her if she was a tomboy who was taller than most of the female peers? Unfortunately nobody seemed to care about her excuse and called her a deformed monster, which offended her and only made her angrier.
Makoto checked to see if the green silk was straight in every single part of her kimono. It was nice to see she could be very feminine. When it came to wearing her Karate Gi, she wasn't as easy-going as people would expect from typical women. She was someone who fought to help the weak. Breathing deeply, Makoto stepped out of her room to spot the patient man strolling on the grass in small steps. The long folds of his white trench coat rippled against the gentle breeze flying across the air, causing Aoshi to appear as a strong man who had a focused thought in his eyes. The wooden heels of Makoto's shoes clanged noisily on the pavement as she approached Aoshi while he stood near the trees that consisted of the tiny garden inside the inn. He was tall enough to pick out leaves from the taller branches that were too high to reach for smaller people like Makoto or Ayane.
Aoshi's blue irises lowered a little to glance at the young female's eyes. It was hard to imagine how a girl like Makoto was in fact a Karateka underneath the feminine exterior, which was what most men were used to seeing whenever they passed any women down the street. There was something in Makoto's eyes that told him she wasn't a typical girlie girl.
"What is it you want to talk about?" Aoshi asked. To the both of them it was rather evident what this discussion was going to lead to. It was going back into the past – when her parents were still alive. Makoto wasn't able to wash off the distractive feeling from glancing at the huge sheath hiding underneath his right arm. Did he only use one sheath to hold his swords? But most Katanas were long. It was impossible to put two of those blades into one place. Unless they were daggers of course then yes, she could see how a sheath of that size would fit his weapons.
Bringing her gaze back to Aoshi's stern expression (she assumed he was losing his patience when his eyebrows arched down sharply), Makoto started talking, asking if he really was the Shinomori Aoshi that was chosen as the new Commander of the Oniwabanshu at the age of fifteen. Of course her guess was definitely correct as a result. Nobody could really forget a handsome yet emotionless façade like Aoshi's.
It was his turn to question her, "Are you the only daughter of Kino Ryouji? Is your name Makoto?" She nodded to confirm he was right. "I remember your father well from the past. He spread the teachings of Shotokan Karate throughout all of Osaka and gained respect from his students because of his pride and determination. The previous Commander and the rest of the Oniwabanshu got on well with Ryouji when he was alive."
"Hey you sound like you respected my father too," Makoto pointed out. Aoshi consented on her obvious thought and stepped away from the trees, moving into the sunlight. She remembered watching Aoshi being chosen as the new Commander of the Oniwabanshu eleven years ago on the special night. At that time she was only eight and hardly ever struck a proper conversation with Aoshi because he was always in another place, proving he was always pre-occupied with other activities. They did see each other eye-to-eye once or twice when her father went to visit the HQ of the Oniwabanshu though there was no verbal contact occasionally between the two of them. It was unlikely that he would want to talk to her anyway, seeing he wasn't talkative like a few other members of the Oniwabanshu. She didn't blame him for being so busy either, as she was just younger and at an amateur level of a Karateka and because he was trying to get used to the business within his new job as the Oniwabanshu Commander.
Makoto was glad they had one similar thing to discuss. And that was the past on the Oniwabanshu and her father. She found it overwhelming that Aoshi still recognised her after eleven years and they barely knew each other. The one thing he did know of her was the father and that was it. Maybe she meant very little to Aoshi back then. But why now? Why did he suddenly appear out of nowhere? A very scary suggestion came to mind. Surely he wasn't searching to kill her after being in the dark for a decade. What if he wasn't the same guy as before? People did change when they got older, didn't they? OK, she knew she was losing her head. This guy didn't have the suspicious aura and according to her memory logs Shinomori Aoshi wasn't the kind of man to take her life.
Their superiors had a special friendship going on. Respect was a simple thing to accomplish between the older figures. Even the previous commander was a nice enough man. Someone she didn't mind calling uncle.
"Uh…Aoshi-san?" Makoto beckoned him. Great, now she was being strangely polite to him. And it was making her blush a lot more. Aoshi was giving her an unusual chill that was making her nervous. She hadn't felt such a sensation around any men in a while. Makoto had to admit her job as a waitress and her Karate training had taken her innocent mind off anything to do with the male population (namely when it involved any guy who had looks to stare at for many hours). Aoshi's ice blue orbs stared back and awaited the girl to speak further. Staring into his eyes made her forget every living around her. "H-how did you find me? You don't know where I live."
"I saw you in the forest," He answered. As his head turned to look up at the sky, Aoshi's back was all Makoto could see, as well as his huge sheath. She didn't know why she suddenly grew nervous whenever she saw his weapon stick out more clearly in front of her face. Maybe she wanted to take a look at his swords. He seemed to be able to read her mind when he said, "I had just finished a short sword fight with other Samurai and I saw you attacking someone. Your face was easy to distinguish."
"Really? Oh…" Makoto realised this was why she had smelt so much blood on his blades. It wasn't only from those three guys who were chasing her. It was from previous victims to the Oniwabanshu Commander. Aoshi must have a VERY good memory on her and her father to be able to help someone out like that at such good timing.
"I think if Ryouji was still alive, he'd ask me to help you," He added, his back returning to face her eyes. "Wouldn't you agree?"
Makoto had never been so shy in public. This person was praising her father and she wasn't exactly smiling to show she was grateful for his compliments. But was it true though? Would her own father, as a friend of the previous Oniwabanshu Commander, ask Shinomori Aoshi to assist his daughter if she needed help? It had been many years since her parents died thus her memory on them had been blank and sometimes inaccurate because she had been doing other things in life. Then again the Oniwabanshu were probably one of the closest allies her father had as a martial artist so perhaps that was the key point to take in if she wanted to put herself in her father's shoes. Pondering for five minutes, she then replied, "Yeah without doubt. I believe in my father a lot, much like how your teammates would believe in you as the Commander of the Oniwabanshu."
"I see," Aoshi stated then unexpectedly inched closer to her. His towering height making her more intimated. His piercing eyes seemed to release a more icicle look as he gazed at Makoto. "I have another question."
"Yes?" She frowned anxiously.
"How would you feel if I challenged you to a fight?"
"WHAT?!" Makoto gasped in extreme horror by his suggestive query. This had to be a joke.
TBC
I forgot to mention in my author notes that Aoshi is likely to be OOC throughout this story ^^;;. I would have put more history on Makoto's family in this chapter but I don't want you to read too much in one go so I've decided to save it for the upcoming chapter.
Sarien- LOL. Indeed I could tell you changed my name after I suggested it in an earlier email ^_^;;. Yes a lot of Trigun AND RK fans have speculated that Aoshi and Legato Bluesummers are similar through physique and personality. It's been mentioned on Trigun sites a lot. As a matter of fact Kenshin and Vash are very similar in characteristic too, as are Wolfwood and Sanosuke ^_^. 'A Burning Desire: The Men of Rurouni Kenshin' is one cool site that explains the similarities between the main Trigun and RK heroes. Oh yeah Chou (one of the Juppongatana) is a look-a-like of Vash the Stampede.
