Disclaimer: *slaps a penny down* Right. *points at penny* If you sue me, that's all you'll get for your trouble, cos that's all I have.
Author's note: *twirls* This is going so well, thank you everyone who read it and took the trouble to review! I'm getting really into this fic now, I hope it shows. I spent quite a bit of time and energy on this chapter, I'm hoping it paid off, cos I wanted to get it just right. Anyway, hope you like it!
Ice and Chaos ThirdMisao's long black hair swept in flicking waves in the wind that blew in through the window. She looked over at the man beside her, and smiled to herself. Here she'd been, off for an adventure, fully accepting that literally anything could have happened to her, and she'd ended up falling in with someone like him: someone cold, abrupt, a little intimidating, even to her- though of course she didn't show it- and someone whose first decision was to take her safely home. She felt like laughing aloud. She must have a weird kind of luck with her this week.
She attempted to bind her hair into its usual plait, but the wind defied her. She ended up bundling it into a ponytail. Long strands that had escaped her grasp blew lazily about her neck, tickling slightly.
What kind of person was this man, anyway?
"What's your name?"
He glanced over at her, surprised by her sudden question after nearly an hour of silence. "Aoshi," he said finally.
"Aoshi… Unusual name."
"So is yours, Misao."
She grinned. "Yeh, it is. I guess we belong together, both of us with such weird names, huh?" She laughed at herself.
Aoshi just kept driving. He had a good profile, she noted to herself. He was, altogether, really quite attractive: he had that dark, edgy attractiveness that few men really had, and most that had it were only faking it. With Aoshi, though… It was like an unequivocal side of his nature that ran as an undercurrent to his whole personality. She couldn't not notice it: that darkness in him had touched his hair, hardened his eyes, frozen his mouth so that he didn't smile. He intrigued her.
She absently twiddled the edge of her top between her fingers, lost in thought. She couldn't help looking over at him now and again. His hair ruffled in the same wind that played with her own. His eyes stared constantly to the front. Her glances grew involuntarily longer every time she looked at him. She startled slightly when he suddenly spoke.
"What?" he sighed impatiently.
"What? Oh, nothing."
"Then why do you keep staring at me?"
"Has anyone ever told you you're really good looking before?"
He quirked an eyebrow. She loved that. "Yes. Have no fear that you may be breaking new ground." The way he spoke took any boast or self-centredness from his words.
She carried on watching him, a thoughtful look on her face. "I'm not afraid. You are really good looking, though." She paused, thinking up her next question, Aoshi presumed. He wasn't disappointed.
"Why are you so dark?" she asked simply.
He actually glanced over at her then. "Dark?" He looked a little scathing, a little amused. "Well, you may have noticed my dark hair. That will account for it."
She shook her head. "Okay, we both know that wasn't what I meant, but I'll just leave it, and assume you don't want to talk about it."
No reaction from him. He just kept on driving.
She sighed inwardly. Her impetuous nature hardly noticed the fact that she'd only met this person the previous day- or this morning, really. She knew what she thought of him right now, and knew she wanted to know him better. He was going to be difficult to get close to, though, she could tell that much pretty easily. She felt miles away from him as it was.
He was a challenge to her, with his distancing techniques and icy stare. She couldn't help it, though. There was something about him that just drew her to him, even if his coldness pushed her away. His words were harsh, but there was something in his voice that really called to her.
She tapped her fingertips in a rhythm on her bottom lip. Too bad it would only take a couple of days to get home.
The warm, clear morning had dissolved into a slightly overcast, muggy and hazy afternoon. The weather had Misao fanning herself with her hands, but the only sign of the heat on Aoshi was a barely visible band of sweat just below his hairline.
The radio had been playing fairly quietly so far that day, but as the DJ introduced the next song, Misao leapt up in excitement and turned the volume up.
"I love this song!" she cried enthusiastically. She started bouncing in her seat in a kind of dance to the music, nodding her head in time, a gleeful expression on her face.
It was an upbeat mix of a song Aoshi vaguely remembered hearing on the radio before. Misao started singing along happily, knowing all the words. Her voice wasn't bad: part of him wanted to turn off the radio, just for peace's sake, but another part of him wanted to listen to her sing.
Inaction made his decision for him. He kept driving, half-listening to her voice, barely even bothering to register the lyrics: just listening to the sound of her voice running over the notes.
"..Hiding in the shadows that follow your back afar, anger, unspeakable sadness: keeping them to oneself. In the dark forests you wander, purple scars, at a falling star gleaming in the night, staring ice blue eyes…"
Hours later, the daylight had faded. It was night again, but the cloud cover at the end of the day had kept the air warm. Most of the clouds had gone now, revealing a great expanse of velvety-black sky, teeming with bright stars.
Aoshi switched the engine off. It looked like another night by the road was on the cards. They'd passed a lone and tiny town earlier in the afternoon, where they'd picked up a late lunch, but Aoshi had wanted to get further before stopping for the night. Now they had little choice but this patch of ground by the road.
Misao got out of the car, stretching and yawning. Her long hair was bundled in a scruffy ponytail that fell down her back, gleaming slightly in the starlight. She walked round to the front of the car, and clambered up onto the bonnet, ending up sat on the roof, her feet placed on the bonnet. She pulled the tie from her hair and started combing its long black strands with her fingers.
Aoshi watched her for a moment, and then shrugged to himself. He stepped up with graceful strength to seat himself on the bonnet, on the other side from her place on the roof. Leaning back against the windscreen, he pulled his legs up to his chest and rested his arms on his knees.
They both faced forwards, Aoshi vaguely watching the moon, still fairly low in the sky, Misao watching Aoshi.
"So where were you headed before I found you?"
Aoshi was amused by the way she phrased the question. But he didn't like her topic of conversation. "I wasn't headed anywhere."
He could hear the smile in her voice. "We're opposites, you know. You were headed nowhere, I was headed everywhere, or anywhere."
She studied his back, but he gave nothing away. He remained a silent figure crouched near her in the darkness. She noted the way the moonlight highlighted his black hair with streaks of silver.
"Then where did you come from? Why did you go off in your car on your own yesterday?"
The silence that fell after Misao's question stretched long. Waiting for Aoshi's answer, she let her gaze rove in a meandering pathway across the sky, picking out a couple of constellations she recognised. As she noticed that the silence had grown cold, and the atmosphere around them tense, she looked back at Aoshi. She thought she saw the muscles in his shoulders tensing up. He still didn't speak. She waited, her brow knitted in puzzlement. What had been so provoking about her questions? He was certainly reacting to them strongly.
She watched him, waiting for him to move or speak.
Blackness all around, and flashes of sudden, glaring light. Red… Red everywhere, clouding his vision. Shouts contrasting with low, urgent voices. Faces turning his way.
He had a responsibility, damn it! He had to do something, to make the right choice, right now!
Red, flooding the world.
Block it out, right now! Forget it!
Don't look at it!
GET RID OF IT!
Misao watched as Aoshi lowered his head onto his arms, resting his forehead heavily on one hand. His entire body had frozen up, held, straining, by some emotion she couldn't place. Without seeing his face, she couldn't guess if it was pain, fury, or some other strong emotion.
Who was this girl? Why had he just accepted her into his life so easily? How could she probe his wounds so carelessly, reach him with such simple questions? And why did he feel like he could rely on her to support him?
He took a sudden breath, holding himself tightly together, as if afraid he may fly apart at any moment.
She scooted quietly across to sit right behind him, placing her feet to either side of his hips. Tentatively, she reached out to touch his bowed head.
She had no idea how he'd react: she barely knew this person. All she knew was the instinct inside her that told her this person was in need, and that she wanted to help.
He felt cautious fingers touch his hair, and didn't move. He was suddenly aware of her feet and legs on either side of him, enclosing his folded body in some strange kind of embrace. He wanted to push her away, to jump off the car bonnet and shout at her from a safe distance, but she was this curious slip of wilderness that had entered his life without warning, and sensed his pain.
Aoshi breathed slowly, willing the tension to drain slowly from his body, letting the hurt melt into the background once more, fading away into the darkness.
He closed his eyes, and shut down all his senses but the one that felt her fingers gently stroking his hair.
Author's note: I tried really hard for this chapter, so I hope you liked it. It's not easy trying to get such a cold guy with so many emotional barriers to trust a near-stranger! *touches Aoshi's arm with a smile* You'll be all right though, won't you? *Aoshi just looks distant as usual, if a little non-plussed* Yeah, yeah, I know! *rolls eyes*
Well, thanks to my reviewers, you made me very happy with your reactions/thoughts/enthusiasm! *grin* And today I'm being all nice and replying to you! *hits herself for sounding to patronising* Sorry, it came out wrong! Damn toneless typed messages… grr
Bee: A road trip indeed! I didn't expect this part to play out how it did, but travelling is definitely a vital thing on the cards… More A+M ahead! (well, just look at them, it's out of my hands really! *sweatdrop*)
Unknown: I'm already amused by Misao as a character: she's so crazy and cool in the series! That was why I wanted to write about her!
Me: Hi! The possibilities indeed… *tries to control her roaming thoughts involving Aoshi* No, bad Akari! Behave! *laugh*
FlameSolo: And I'm still debating about whether your review was sarcastic, or whether I just read it that way… *confused but accepting that Ice and Chaos isn't exactly the most action-packed fic in the world… But then, it was never intended to be*
Dynast: And this update was pretty quick too, ne? *hopeful grin* … *thinks about it* Probably a promise, but may become a threat despite all intentions! *feels so cryptic, she doesn't even understand herself* eh…
Nekonomiko: Ah yes, those deadlines… I still have one of those to meet… *nervous* I hope you are indeed inspired, it'd be pretty cool to think my writing could make other people feel like writing too! *starry-eyed* ah…
JT: *bows* I do my best. ^_^ *goes goes goes!*
Lebleuphenix: Yeh, she is a bit of a flirt in my story… *sheepish* But it kinda works in context, I hope anyway! And annoying Aoshi is surely the best way into his heart: any reaction is an accomplishment with that guy, even if it's irritation! *Aoshi sends a cold withering look Akari's way* eh… *whispers* See? *hides*
Noa: Thank you! I'm muchly enjoying writing it! ^_^
I'll be back soon with more! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Show your support and leave your thoughts, please! *begs* Oh dear, now I'm just desperate… ^_^
