Part 2: Selecting Miss Right

January 23, 2003

Today, Aoshi went to my school to discuss careers within the United States Navy. It was the weirdest thing, seeing him up there, knowing he's my guardian. I kinda felt bad for him, because it seemed like too much. Going back to work must have been so weird for him. And then having to speak in front of hundreds of kids who could probably care less.

I think Megs dated the public affairs officer, Lt. Greenleaf. He seems nice enough, according to Megs. I've seen him on the web page, and he isn't bad-looking. I think they went out a few times during Christmas. They were working together on some fundraiser. He's another tick mark to add, as Aoshi would say. But who cares if Megs dates a lot? I wonder how she does it. Maybe she can teach Aoshi how to attract members of the opposite sex. That way, things don't do a complete flop when he goes out on these dates.

Anyway, back to the speech day. He practiced his speech in front of me. Surprisingly, not in front of a mirror, who'd probably be a much better judge. I'm biased. This is Aoshi. I'd offer a good opinion if it helps increase my allowance. But really, I think his speech was good. Lt. Greenleaf suggested on keeping it short, because he knew far in advance that teens could care less. But Aoshi didn't even talk much, and made the mistake of having a panel of questions…

~ Misao

"Thank you so much for being here," Lt. Greenleaf said as they settled in seats at the front of Honolulu High School's auditorium.

Aoshi nodded in response. Both men were dressed in uniform. Greenleaf in dress whites. Which was completely unnecessary. And extremely uncomfortable. Of all the uniforms he ever had to wear, Aoshi was most comfortable in khaki uniform. It was tailored purposely for his body structure, simple, with straight lines, and several colored ribbons pinned above the left breast pocket. His collar had pins indicating his rank and his occupation.

"I'm glad Megumi recommended you for this…" the young officer continued. "She's got so many connections and so many friends in the Navy it's amazing."

Aoshi was here as a favor to her. She had done a lot while he was recuperating in the hospital, it was the least he could do. He normally hated public speaking in situations like this, but he was going to be talking about something that came so naturally to him. Something that served a purpose. It was the least he could do for a friend.

He just got back to work three days ago. It felt so unusual being back after such a long break. But at the same time, he felt an incredible sense of relief. His officer's training was such a huge part of him, he couldn't see himself without it for an extended period of time.

Aoshi sat fairly still during Kane Owalu's speech. The hotel manager of one of Waikiki's resorts gave an enthusiastic…if not long…story about the hospitality industry. He had been the youngest general manager on the island…quite an accomplishment for someone who came from a broken family on welfare.

"Let's give Mr. Owalu a hand," Principal Turner announced into the microphone while clapping his stubby hands. The students half-heartedly followed his example. "And now I'd like to bring up my next guest speaker, Lt. Greenleaf of the United States Navy."

Greenleaf rose to his feet, motioning for Aoshi to join him. It was customary for the senior officer to lead the way when walking, which happened to be the case as Aoshi was closer to the stairs leading to the stage. He took his position slightly behind and to the right of the microphone, as Greenleaf stepped behind the podium.

"Thank you, Principal Turner. My name is Lt. Devlin Greenleaf. I'm the public affairs officer of Pearl Harbor Naval Station. My job is to promote the Navy and insure that the public, that the civilians, are better informed about the Navy and the Navy way of life." He took a breath. "I'm basically a publicist for the Navy. All good businesses want to maintain a good rapport with the public and organizations around them. The Navy is no different." He shifted slightly. "I became an officer not too long ago after I graduated from University of California, Los Angeles, in Business Administration. The Navy is always looking for personnel from different educational and cultural backgrounds. We could always use the support. In exchange for your services, the Navy promises to take care of you. There's no other business in the world that provides immediate medical coverage and tuition for college. You also have the opportunity to travel. There are careers ranging from nurses, journalists, musicians, law enforcement. And it's your choice what you want to do. Lt. Commander Shinomori has been nearly everywhere during his ten years as an officer of Naval Intelligence. I'm going to let him have the floor to tell you a little more about what we do and what we're about."

As Greenleaf stepped back, Aoshi moved forward.

"Thank you, Lt. Greenleaf." Aoshi surveyed the students, some staring up at the ceiling, others ducking their heads, paying extremely close attention to their handheld games. "Let's keep this simple. I'll let you do the talking. Anyone have any questions?" No use talking when no one was listening. Aoshi ignored the shocked look on Greenleaf's face. The man would make a terrible hostage.

A girl's hand shot into the air. "Are you single?"

From his vantage point, he could see Misao sink into her chair. He fought back a smile.

"Yes. That's also part of the job," he answered.

Murmurs of 'How boring' or 'Poor guy' filled the room. Keeping his expression neutral, Aoshi gestured to a teenager sitting in the front.

"You get lots of women, though, right? Like when you're on shore leave in a foreign country?" one guy asked.

Misao ducked into her seat even more.

"Some sailors choose to spend their shore leave in the company of women," Aoshi answered.

More murmurs, mostly from women, about men in uniform, men out of uniform, men in flight suits…

Questions involved shooting guns, sniping people, and driving ships came into play. The teenagers obviously didn't plan on taking this Q&A session seriously…

January 25, 2003

This hunting for the perfect mate stuff is pretty harsh. So many decisions to make. So many emails to go through. So I brought some reinforcements. Kaoru and Megs seem to really like the ad I placed for Aoshi. Now when it comes to choosing someone for him…Megs is being way too critical, while Kaoru's being way too nice. But the replies are pretty entertaining. Kaoru brought up an interesting point that I never thought about…How come Megs and Aoshi never went on a date? And a real, real date, one they both wanted to go on, not one of those favor trades?

~ Misao

"Once everyone knew who he was, they all wanted to talk to me because my 'dad' uses gats and cool gadgets," Misao exclaimed, making a quotation mark motion with her fingers.

"I think it's neat that Aoshi's so popular," Kaoru commented.

"Are some kids bothering you?" Megumi asked as she settled comfortably in her lounge chair.

The three had decided to spend a Saturday morning at the beach…dragging male family members with them. Kenshin had protested at first, saying he had laundry to do, but eventually agreed. Aoshi, who loved being by the water, wasn't too hard to convince. Kenshin and Aoshi had gone swimming while the ladies stayed behind.

"Not really. It's just annoying sometimes," Misao answered. She flipped open Aoshi's wireless laptop and typed a web address. "Here…look at this and tell me what you think…"

When the site displayed, she turned the laptop around so that her two friends could see it. Megumi's eyes widened, as Aoshi's photograph and bio appeared on the screen.

"Did you fix that?" the doctor asked. "The lighting looks so nice…he almost looks like he's modeling for GQ magazine…"

"Danielle set the picture like that," Misao said proudly.

"He…looks good," Kaoru said feebly.

Misao wasn't too sure if Kaoru was speaking that way because she was married, therefore, unable to notice the appearance of any other man.

"Better than good," Megumi murmured, pushing her sunglasses on top of her head.

Okay, it was just Kaoru being…Kaoru. Sure, Aoshi was her guardian, but Misao thought he was a pretty good-looking guy. In a way, she was relieved that another female agreed with her. Finding a woman would be much easier, then.

Kaoru skimmed the bio information before laughing. "You wrote the bio, didn't you?"

"Of course," Misao huffed. "You think he'd do it? So what do you think? Does he sound like an interesting person?"

"I'd email him," Kaoru offered. "If I was single, and into the whole internet dating thing…"

"Oh yeah…" Misao dug into her beach bag after shutting the laptop down. "I printed out some emails from some of the women that emailed him…Maybe you two have some suggestions…Look at these and tell me what you think…" She pulled out a folder and passed several letters around.

"Why can't we just read it from his email account?" Kaoru asked.

Wrinkling her nose in protest, Misao pulled out several pens. "It'll drain the laptop battery."

"Oh."

"How many candidates have you had so far?" Megumi asked.

"See, that's the thing. I have to get to know who they are first before I set up Aoshi on a date. I have less than one week to choose among two hundred women…"

"His date is coming that quickly?" Megumi began to file through the papers.

"Yes!" Misao exclaimed. "I'm spazzing out here! I don't think that's enough time for me to get to know these women…"

"Ooh, this girl sounds nice." Kaoru waved a sheet in the air. " 'Hello, Aoshi. You have such a cool name! What does it mean? I'm Marilyn, and I really love water sports. There's nothing like it. It almost feels like flying, except you're getting wet. I noticed you like to surf. That's one sport I totally, totally like.' Wow, she seems really enthusiastic about sports."

Megumi peeked at the printed email. "She's twenty, Kaoru. Eleven years younger than Aoshi."

"Ew!" Misao snatched that particular sheet from Kaoru's hands and crumpled it into a ball.

"What's wrong with that?" Kaoru demanded.

"She's young!" Misao pointed out. "No way am I setting up Aoshi with some college student!"

Kaoru crossed her arms and said indignantly, "There's nothing wrong with the age difference…"

Megumi bit her lip, muffling her laughter by placing a hand over her mouth. "Misao…be careful with what you say…"

So Kaoru and Kenshin had ten years between them. "But Kenshin doesn't have a kid who's sixteen, Kaoru," Misao pointed out.

That caused the other woman to smile. "You're right."

"This chick is a professional dancer," Misao stated.

"From the red-light district," Megumi added.

"Megs!" Misao cleared her throat and read aloud, " 'Hi, Aoshi. You looked like a really interesting person. My name is Annabelle, and I'm a professional dancer in downtown Honolulu. Dancing has increased my flexibility and strength-' "

"Red-light district loud and clear," Megumi warned.

Misao frowned at her before continuing, "- so perhaps you'd be willing to teach me some kempo.' "

Kaoru giggled. "She certainly sounds…eager to meet him. She can't be that bad, Megumi…"

"I'm only being cautious," Megumi defended. "There are a lot of strange people on the internet…"

"This girl is a freelance model." Kaoru held up a piece of paper.

"Meaning she's an escort." Again, Megumi decided to add her two cents in.

The three continued to file through the papers.

"Hey, what about this one. 'Hi, Aoshi. I'm Mary Ann. I grew up in Bear Valley Creek Pine Falls, a small mid-western town. I love to cook, clean, bake desserts and-' "

"Boring," Megumi interrupted Kaoru.

"That's not very nice," Kaoru chided.

Sighing as she settled back, Megumi continued to study each email before crumpling them up and tossing them into the slowly growing pile of rejects by Misao's knee. "Some of these women are completely wrong for him…"

"Since when did you become an expert on what Aoshi wants in a woman?" Kaoru challenged.

"After knowing him this long, you mean to tell me you have no idea what he finds attractive in a woman?" Megumi responded.

Kaoru grimaced, glancing at her pile of emails.

"This woman sent her picture in…" Megumi said quietly, skimming the email. "Hm. Not bad…"

"What does it say?" Misao asked.

" 'I can't believe a guy like you needs to put out a personal ad. You probably lost a bet or something with your friends. Or…Judging by your profile, you probably enjoy work so much it tends to get in the way of your personal life, so a female relative convinced you to do this. Right? Right? =) So what was it like learning kempo? I took a lot of kendo classes while I was in college. To this day I keep up with training. There's a great sense of accomplishment when one understands the forms and principles of an art. Hope to hear from you soon, Charlie.' " Megumi grinned. "Not bad at all. The woman's got to have confidence to write something like that."

The soft plop of a Frisbee at Megumi's feet drew the attention of the three females. They watched as a handsome young man in his mid-twenties strolled up to retrieve it.

"Sorry, ladies," he said with a charming smile.

Megumi smiled back and shifted in her seat, immediately gaining his attention.

"Ma'am…" he nodded in her direction before turning away.

Kaoru and Misao watched in fascination as the man turned to look back at Megumi, nearly tripping over a toddler who ran past him. Misao and Kaoru couldn't help but laugh as he stumbled slightly.

"That wasn't nice," Megumi scolded. "He was being friendly."

"Yeah…sure…" Misao giggled.

"You know, Megumi…I've always wondered…how come you and Aoshi never really went out? On a real date? Not going out for the sake of appearances…or because it's convenient. Going out together because you want to spend time together," Kaoru commented.

Smoothing back several feathery bangs, Megumi said calmly, "I think he'd be terrible in bed."

The two younger women froze.

"What?" Kaoru's eyes went wide.

"Eww. Gross…I don't need to hear anything about that…he's my guardian!" Misao exclaimed.

"That's your excuse for not going out with him?" Kaoru asked incredulously.

"Why not?" Megumi smiled wickedly. "He has everything else, a house, a car, a decent job. He must be lacking in something."

"Since when did that ever stop you?" Kaoru demanded.

"You two take everything so seriously." Megumi rolled her eyes. Then she grinned.

"That's not funny…" Kaoru grumbled.

Megumi shrugged one shoulder. "In all seriousness…I suppose I've never really thought about it. Don't see the need to." She handed a small stack to Misao. "Here are some women you might consider replying to..."

"Kaoru!" Kenshin waved at his wife as he and Aoshi strolled across the sand in their direction.

"Hi, Kenshin! Did you have a good swim?" Kaoru handed her husband a towel. Misao took that as her cue and gave Aoshi his.

"It was very refreshing. Aoshi kept watching the surfers," Kenshin remarked.

"Speaking of which…" Megumi began. "You're supposed to give me a refresher course on surfing, Aoshi."

Those blue-gray eyes glanced in her direction. "I didn't forget..."

            "Good."

            Misao glanced at Megumi then at Aoshi. Megs and Aoshi? Hmm. Well…she shrugged mentally. Megs isn't interested, anyway, so it doesn't matter.

            "Here you go, Misao." Kaoru handed her several emails.

            "What's this?" Kenshin bent slightly, picking up a rolled ball of paper.

            The three women glanced at each other in horror.

            "Kenshin, no!" Kaoru cried out the same time Misao shouted, "Wait!"

            Both young women dove towards the red-haired man in an effort to prevent him from reading its contents, but they merely bumped heads as Kenshin rose to his feet, unfolding the letter. Megumi cringed, shaking her head. Kenshin's eyes widened to saucers, heat flooding up his neck.

            "Oro…"

            Kaoru covered her eyes in embarrassment…apparently it was one of the more risqué emails.

            Kenshin glanced at Aoshi, who was rubbing a towel over his hair.

            "What?"

            Megumi bit down on the nail of her index finger as Aoshi snatched the email from Kenshin's shaking hands. Aoshi skimmed it. If he was shocked, he only showed it by a mild lift of his brows.

            "What is this?"

            "Um…one of your personal ad replies…" Misao admitted sheepishly.

            Aoshi frowned. "I don't even understand half of it."

            "What's not to understand?" Misao shrugged. "She liked your picture, and she…ick…wants to sleep with you."

            "I can see that," he agreed dryly. "But what is a 'Joystick Joyride'? Some-"

            "Actually, I think what she's referring to is when a woman-" Megumi interrupted.

            But Aoshi cut her off. "Never mind."

            Megumi blinked.

            "If you're the only one here who can explain it, I don't want to know what it is."

            Her mouth dropped open. "Meaning what?" she said indignantly.

            As Megumi protested that he didn't let her talk, Aoshi went on to say that her explanation was probably inappropriate for children, and she countered that she didn't get her chance to explain, to which Aoshi responded that he didn't need her to. The fact that she 'knew' the definition for such a strange term was saying enough. Misao pursed her lips as she watched the exchange. Yeah. Too bad she isn't interested. Then again, he probably isn't either…Ah well. Back to the emails…