CHAPTER 7

            It had been a little over two months since Midori had arrived at the dojo. She had almost finished her painting for Sano, and she planned to give it to him soon.

            "Oi, has anyone seen my picture of Sayo?" Sano asked Kenshin and Kaoru.

            "Oh, you've lost it? I haven't seen it, " Kaoru said nervously.

            "Well, if you see it, tell me," Sano said.

            "Oh, yeah. Of course," Kaoru said with a nervous smile.

            Sano looked over at Midori playing with Ayame and Suzame. She was laughing and seemed to be back to her normal self.

            "Sano, what are you looking at?" Kaoru asked.

            "Err…" Sano said.

            "I bet he's staring at Midori," Yahiko said, grinning.

            "No! I'm not," he said, blushing a tad.

            "You're blushing!" Yahiko said.

            "SHUT-UP!" Sano said, getting somewhat angry.

            Midori looked up at Sano and smiled. "Ah… arguing again. That's just like him," she thought.

            "Midori?" Ayame asked.

            "Hai?"

            "What are you looking at?" she asked.

            "Oh, at everyone," she said, smiling again.

            "Naze?" Suzame asked.

            "Because they are funny," Midori responded.

            "I'm hungry," Ayame said.

            "Me too," Suzame said.

            "Okay, I'll get you something to eat." Midori took their hands and led them inside.

            "Midori-dono, where are you going?" Kenshin asked.

            "I'm going to make something to eat for Ayame and Suzame.

            "You shouldn't feed them any of your food," Yahiko said, grinning. At this, Midori punched him and continued inside.

            "Well it looks like she's back to normal," Yahiko said as he rubbed his head where Midori had punched him.

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After Midori cooked and served the food, she put the finishing touches on her painting and then put it in another room to dry. Ayame and Suzame soon finished their food and Midori took them back outside.

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            "Kubo, Hoshi, come here," a man said.

            "Hai, Turo-sama?" they both questioned.

            "Today, I want to go attack Midori again," he said, smirking. "Now have you been training hard?"

            "Hai, Turo-sama," Hoahi replied.

            "You say the former battousai is with her?" the man asked.

            "Hai, we are going to attack her when she's along, and may I ask one question, Tuo-sama?"

            "I suppose…" the man said rather smugly.

            "Why haven't you been sending out anyone to fight Midori lately, Turo-sama?" Kubo asked.

            "Because the few that come back say they were defeated, and Midori did it single-handed, for the most part. So there Is no use of them. So, you should have a surprise attack on Midori," he said. "Go now and find her."

            "Hai, Turo-sama," they both said respectfully ass whey left.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~**~*

            "It was nice of you to watch Ayame and Suzame well I was out. Arigatou," Dr Gensei said. "Megumi had something to do today."

            "I don't mind," Midori said, smiling. They all left with relatively cheerful goodbyes.

            Midori went inside to see if her painting was dry. "Yoshi! It's dry, now I can give it to Sano," she thoughtas she rolled it up and held the picture in her hand.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            "I'm gonna get something to eat," Sano said, getting up, and going into the house. As he entered, Midori ran into him.

            "Ahh, sorry, Sano-san," she said, rubbing the back of her head. Sano looked down at her hand, which was holding the picture of Sayo.

            "OI! Why do you have my picture?!" Sano asked, sounding angry.

            "I…" Midori began, losing her words."

            "NANI?" he nearly yelled. "Why would you take that from me?!"

            Midori looked a bit angry. "Before you even let me answer, you get all mad!"

            "Well, of course I'm mad!" he yelled.

            "See? You get too angry! Here, look and see for yourself why I took your picture," she said, looking a little sad and angry at the same time as she threw the rolled-up painting and the picture of Sayo at his head, and then walked swiftly away. "I'm going for a  walk. I'll see you all later minna-san," Midori said with a rather shaky voice.

            "Oro?" Kenshin asked.

            "What's wrong with her?" Yahiko asked.

            "Well… I heard Sano yelling… maybe he yelled at her," Kaoru said. "Well, let's ask." Kaoru got up and went inside, Kenshin and Yahiko following her. They came into Sano staring at the painting Midori had made for him.

            "Sano, so you know what's wrong with Midori?" Kaoru asked.

            "Yeah," Sano said, then he explained what had happened.

            "Don't you feel bad?" Yahiko asked.

            "Well, it's her own damn fault for taking my picture without asking," Sano said.

            "Well, actually we took your picture," Kaoru said.

            "NAZE?" he said, getting angry eyes.

            "She asked us to so that she could make the painting for you!" Kaoru said nervously.

            "I think you should go apologize, de gozaru," Kenshin said.

            "Why should I? Where the hell is she?" Sano asked.

            "You can go find her," Yahiko said.

            "You're the one that upset her!" Kaoru said.

            "FINE THEN!" Sano yelled as he headed out the door, Kenshin, Kaoru and Yahiko following far behind to see what would happen.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Midori was near the river, practicing her martial art skills. "He's such an ass sometimes~ I can't believe he's like that," Midori thought as she thrust a very hard punch.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Hoshi and Kubo were walking down the road near the river. They spotted a figure in a red gi-like outfit, with her purple hair in buns.

            "This is easier than I thought," Kubo said.

            "Yeah, but she probably doesn't have the scripture," Hoshi said, sounding irritated.

            "We'll hurt her and then go back to the dojo and find that scripture," Kubo said, smirking.

            "Ah, good thinking," Hoshi said, smiling at him, as she headed toward Midori.

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            Midori continued practicing until she felt something at her back. She gasped as she came to realization. It was a sword.

            "Took you by surprise, eh, Midori?" Kubo asked. Midori turned around. It seemed like she was going to have to fight again.

            "What the hell are you doing here?!" Midori yelled.

            "You know why we're here, Midori," Hoshi said.

            "Well, you're not getting that scripture!" Midori said, putting up a fighting stance.

            "Hmm… looks like she's ready to fight," Kubo said.

            "I guess so," Hoshi said, running at Midori with her with her sword. Midori dodged it and tried to punch her in the stomach but she blocked. She tried to again but this time, Kubo stopped her.

            "We've been training very hard. You couldn't even come close to beating us before," Kubo said.

Midori looked at him angrily and managed to wriggle free. Midori ran and came running at Kubo with a punch but he threw her over. She soon got up. "What am I going to do?" she thought. "Well, I have my wooden practice sword.. it wouldn't do much… but what else can I do?" She took the wooden sword and ran at Hoshi. She actually hit her stomach but it didn't hurt her much. This angered Hoshi and she cut her sword in half. "Damn! What can I do now?!" she thought. Kubo punched her in the stomach and she stumbled back a bit, then Hoshi threw her against a nearby tree. Midori couldn't get up, and so Hoshi and Kubo headed over to her. "Damn it!" she thought as they looked at her and smirked at her. Just then, Kubo was punched in the head. Midori looked to see what it was.

"Oi, don't you think it's a little unfair, fighting against someone when you have a weapon and she doesn't?" Sano said.

Midori sighed. "Well, it looks like I'll be okay."

"Oh, it's you again," Kubo said, irritated.

"Yeah," he said, smiling. Kubo ran at him and tried to punch but Sano just dodged it. They ended up fighting for quite a while, and Kenshin, Kaoru and Yahiko were waiting nearby. Soon, Hoshi looked over at the still unmoving Midori. She went over to her with her sword, but Midori rolled over when Hoshi swung at her. Kaoru, Kenshin and Yahiko decided to help too. The fight went on for quite a while (Yahiko and Kaoru fought with Hoshi.) Kaoru, Yahiko, and even Sano were somewhat hurt from the battle, and Midori could walk, but she had to slowly.

"I'm sorry, minna-san," Midori said quietly.

"It's alright," Kaoru said, smiling.

"Well, it looks like they'll be down for a while," Sano said, looking down at Hoshi and Kubo's motionless bodies.

"Maitte… did Sano come here to find me…? Well, he still hasn't said sorry yet," Midori thought.

"Well, we should stop at Megumi's and get your wounds healed, de gozaru," Kenshin said.

"I don't have many!" Yahiko said.

"Well we still should," Kauro said. So they all got up and headed to Megumi's.

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            "Are you alright Hoshi?" Kubo asked when he was able to move again. It was nearly nighttime by then.

            "Yeah, I'm okay," Hoshi said, grabbing his hand, causing them both to blush. "How 'bout you?"

            "I'm  find," he responded. They were both able to move pretty well, so they got up and left.