Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin isn't mine.  Not even in an Alternate Universe.  Mind you, I haven't really checked… *shrug*

Author's note:  Thanks for all the reviews!  It made me really happy and encouraged me to get this written, so many thanks to you all! 

  Let's pick up where we left off, shall we?  ^_^

Ice and Chaos Fifth

  Darkness is not always a thing to be afraid of: it isn't always your enemy.  Sometimes, in the right circumstances, the darkness of night only helps to hide the flaws that daylight would lay bare, and allows the sweet ignorance of knowing only that which needs to be known, and sensing only what is the best and most beautiful in those around you.  It allows you to cast aside the faults that we all have, and focus on the things that make us extraordinary.

  Aoshi allowed his hands to slide gently over Misao's shoulders, so carefully that his fingers barely touched her, moving to grasp her back in a relaxed hold, a simple gesture that kept her close as they kissed.

  She tasted of fresh tears, a strangely sweet flavour, despite the saltiness.  As her lips caressed his more surely, her other flavours suggested themselves: a taste that reminded Aoshi of cherry blossoms played across his lips, and, as he allowed himself to meet her with a touch of his tongue, and she touched him softly back, the flavour of sweet citrus and summer days swept gently through his mouth.  Like her scent, the taste of her was similar to hundreds of sweet and enticing things, yet completely unique.  She simply tasted of Misao.

  He kissed her more deeply, letting all thought subside at last, concentrating only on the meeting and caressing of their lips, and the places where their hands tentatively made contact with clothing and skin.

  Misao drank in the taste of him deeply, fully, savouring the shiver his touch sent through her, appreciating the way he made her feel so warm and safe and protected.  When had anyone last shown her such security, held her and looked at her in a way that so openly said, 'You will be safe as long as I am here'? 

  She wrapped her arms around him, pushing away the question and the answers it prodded in her, pulling him to her fiercely, as if the distance between them affected the distance between herself and her life.

  At that moment, he began to slow the kiss down, and pulled gently away from her.  "Misao…" His eyes looked warmer than they ever had, but there was concern in their pale depths as well.

  A loud knock precluded anything Aoshi might have been planning to say.

  Misao's head whipped round, her eyes fixing on the door with the sudden look of a hunted animal.

  "Hello?  This is the police!  Will you please open the door?"  The voice sounded out strongly through the door, hitting Aoshi's ears like the explosion of a bomb.

  Misao sat up, pulling him up with her.  She held his upper arms with an almost frighteningly intense grip.  Her wide eyes flashed with a wild light when she looked at him.  He stared at her in shock.

  "We have to go!  Please!" she whispered urgently, desperation and fury in her voice.

  Aoshi had been about to question her, but as another knock came at the door, and he looked back into Misao's bright, pleading eyes, he made his choice.  He didn't even stop to shake his head at his own leap of faith, his own abandonment of all normal sense and reason.

  He grabbed her hand, pulling her silently from the bed, and led her over into the bathroom, closing the door as silently as possible and locking it with the tiniest of clicks.  Still in the same fluid movement, melting through the shadows with a sure stealth that would have surprised Misao had she not been so crazed with urgency, Aoshi opened the window and slipped outside, dropping lightly into the bushes that lined the back of the building.  He glanced about himself, checking that there was no one else there.  It was safe.

  He lifted his arms to Misao, who was gazing out of the window at him, and nodded to her in a silent signal.  Nodding back with a worried face, Misao clambered as quietly as she could out of the window and fell into his waiting arms.

  He caught her with a careful grip around her waist, lowering her safely to the ground.  She had wrapped her arms around his neck, and gazed up into his eyes as she slid down against his chest and her feet found the floor.  The touch or the gaze did not distract Aoshi.  He had fallen into a strangely certain, alert state.

  "Come on," he whispered in a breath, and took her hand to lead her around the side of the building.

  The car started up at the same moment as the police gave up on their door.  Misao, swivelling round in her seat to watch behind them, still with that wild look in her eyes, saw the two officers running down the steps at full pelt towards them.  Misao silently thanked god that they'd been on the upper level- the stairs had hidden their movements from the police's view long enough for them to drive away.

  Misao watched as the officers ran to their own car, before they faded away into the night.

  "Well, are you going to explain any of that?" asked Aoshi quietly.  Misao had feared he would be angry with her, but he was just calm and collected.  Misao wondered if that was more ominous than anger.

  She gazed across at him.  He glanced her way, but was obviously planning to keep his eyes on the road.  They were flying down the long stretch in the darkness, away from the motel and, they hoped, the police.

  Misao stayed silent.  She didn't trust herself to speak: she didn't want to start telling him, because she didn't want to end up telling him everything.  She merely moved her eyes away from his dark profile, and studied the road ahead.

  She thought she caught the faintest sound of a sigh from Aoshi.

  Minutes later, he slowed the car and pulled over.

  Misao prepared herself for the worst.

  His arms enclosed her in a warm embrace.

  Her eyes widened in surprise as he leant his forehead against hers.  His eyes were closed, but there was a slight tightness to them that suggested he was pained by something.  By her, she realised.

  His voice was so quiet, and so gentle.  "You shouldn't have run away, Misao.  You should have known your parents would send the police searching for you.

  "Why don't you want to go home?" 

  He knew she didn't want to talk about it.  It was written all over her face, and in her overt body language: she practically crouched in her seat, as if backed into a corner, her arms folded, her hands holding onto her arms tightly. 

  Finally, with a sigh, he'd pulled over.  This wasn't going to be solved by just driving away from it.  Whatever it was, Misao had been trying that tactic for a while already, that much was clear.  And it had culminated in the police knocking on the door that hid her and someone who would be considered a stranger to her, by the law and almost certainly by her parents.

  It wasn't a good situation.

  Aoshi wasn't stupid.  When he'd offered to take her home, he'd known there was more going on than she'd revealed.  She hadn't just 'gone on an adventure'; she hadn't just done this because she'd been 'bored'. 

  And now, as the key turned back in the ignition and the engine cut out, and silence fell over them like a blanket in the darkness, the thing Misao had been running from had crept upon them.  It seemed so pointless to try to just keep ignoring it.

  He felt too entangled in her life now to just walk away.  He wanted to help.  She drew him to her, despite her closed-up stance and doubtful, evasive gaze.

  He reached out to her in the simplest way he knew.  He moved over and wrapped his arms around her, drawing them close together in a comforting embrace.  He pressed his forehead to hers, closing his eyes so that he wouldn't have to see her look away from him.  He needed to get through to her.  He spoke quietly.

  "You shouldn't have run away, Misao.  You should have known your parents would send the police searching for you.

  "Why don't you want to go home?" he asked her simply, without dramatics or anger. 

  He just wanted to know.  He wanted to know what he was involved with.

  He could feel her soft breaths against his chin.  It reminded him of the kiss they had been sharing only less than an hour earlier.  He let his eyes remain closed.

  Small, trembling hands reached out to wrap their way around the width of his back, pulling him closer. 

  "You know I'm not really blissfully happy, and I'm not really cute.  I'm trouble: like you said when we were in the car that first day.  You know?"

  Aoshi nodded, ever so slightly, so as not to affect her, they way their foreheads were leant together as they were. 

  She pulled away, and he opened his eyes to see her moving a hand hastily across her face, with a strange kind of smile.

  "You said you'd take me home yourself.  So let's just make sure that you don't break your promise, okay?"

  He nodded again, letting the anxiety lift from him.  She didn't want to go into it: he wouldn't push her.  He'd just let her choose the mood she wanted, let her decide her own way of dealing with things.  He respected her enough to do that.

  She slid back into her seat, slipping from his arms.

  He started up the car once more.

  There wasn't too far to go now.  The stars were already beginning to fade away.  The engine thrummed steadily as Aoshi drove on.

  Misao had fallen asleep, gradually shifting across to lean against him, her head resting on his shoulder before she'd drifted off.  It was strange how much things seemed to have changed since she'd done that the day he'd met her, and he'd told her to get off.

  His reaction to her closeness had changed, for one thing.

  He was too tired.  Her warm softness leant against him made him feel so sleepy.  Finally, admitting to himself that he needed rest, he pulled over. 

  The night would have passed soon.  The day that would see Misao and him to their destination had almost begun.  Their paths would soon go in different directions.  Something about that thought touched Aoshi, made him feel a little ache of loneliness.  That had been such a common feeling before Misao had come along.

  He leant back in his seat, pulling Misao gently close to him, until she rested her head in the dip where his neck met his shoulder, and, leaning lightly on her silky black head of hair, he let sleep claim him.  He let the new day find him dreaming quietly in Misao's sleeping embrace.

Author's note: okay, that was a pretty short chapter.  But I hope you liked it anyway!  I'm so rushed off my feet: I'm trying to update all three fics this evening, but I think it'll only end up being this one and 'PB: RK Style'.  I'm out of time!

  In view of this fact, I have no time to reply to my reviewers, though my greatest thanks go out to you.  I'll reply properly to you all next time, but in the meantime: you have you update!  ^_^

Thank you to Cat H, Crystallis*Chandalline, lake, Noa, Argentum Draco, Min, Venus Smurf, FlameSolo, len, Megumi No Ushi, nekonomiko, TwinBakaNekos and lebleuphenix.  Especially to Venus Smurf and Cat H for taking the time to review each chapter and for your lovely comments!

*glomps for all*  See you again soon!