Chapter: 8

Three tests

Misao saw a white light at the end of a dark tunnel, and as she ran to the light she saw images of her life. Picture-by-picture ran past her in a blur.  She opened her eyes, she couldn't believe it she was alive. Misao and Kaoru were both alive. She felt her hands for any cuffs. She Misao was indeed alive and… still chained up. Wait how did she hear the blood splatter and how come she isn't ripped in two? She looked around and took in the scenery around her. It was almost dungeon like and she didn't know where she was, this has happened before. The walls were gray and dripping with water. 'Either I am by the ocean or a lake or we are really far down.' She thought. And the floor was gray and dripping wet and the water level just kept rising it was already up to her ankles. She was still hand cuffed and she saw that kaoru was all right and hand cuffed to. She saw something out of the ordinary though. She saw a small little steam-shaped line of red in the water. And it was spreading fast. It was blood she was sure of it, but whose, well whose ever it is that must have been the splatter. She squinted looking into the shadows for she saw a lump, no wait it was a bump, no wait better yet it was a heap, who keeps a heap drenched in blood in a dungeon? She walked closer now a figure was silhouetted from the darkness panting. It had a sword in hand and was wet. This heap was beginning to form into a shape. This shape had a head and arms and legs. This shape was the dead man who the blood came from and this man here must have killed him (very perceptive isn't she). Well now that that mystery was cleared up she needed to know who the man is, why he saved them, where kaoru was, and how she was saved when the pendulum was only a few seconds away from hitting them? She began walking toward the figure again. She was feeling dizzy, a whirlwind of ideas were going through her head. She was becoming incoherent and disoriented. She focused on her mission though and trudged on in the fast filling room. She finally got close enough she could see who it was and suddenly the bulky figure separated into two figures. The room began to lose its black haze and regain light. She saw their faces perfectly now she must be going crazy now their was three figures but soon she was a mere 6 feet away. She saw that the three men were actually real and there were three.

"Soujiro, Kenshin, and Aoshi, Should have guessed you three would come and save your poor defenseless little Misao and Kaoru" she said.

"Well Arisa, you aren't defenseless but Misao does need a little help every once and a while" Soujiro said. Arisa scowled she expected more of a reaction.

"Bite me! Misao made me to protect her so god damit that's what im going to do!" Arisa said, yup she was incoherent all right, she was yelling at soujiro the one person besides Misao who was nice to her, well at least that she has spent time with. Kenshin was all to confuse but once he caught sight of the dazed kaoru he knew where he was needed. Kenshin walked over to her and put his arm around her. He asked her if she was all right and of course she was. They basically just snuggled up and stayed there happy and content, completely ignoring the damp atmosphere. Back to Arisa. She sighed and decided to just let Misao take over; she may just be put in a coma if she sees him though.

"Alright guys, get ready for a scream at the very least. Id be surprised if she didn't attack Aoshi here" Arisa said pointing to Aoshi with an accusing finger. He stayed as emotionless as usual, but did seem to be a little eager. Arisa closed her eyes and told Misao ' Look Misao I will let you take over but please keep the screaming and jumping to a minimum. She opened her eyes; she blinked a few times and adjusted to the light. Once she focused on Aoshi she started to turn red. She stomped over to him and put her finger on his chest. She began poking him in the chest with her index finger while saying:

"Aoshi Shinomori I am disappointed in you. You don't trust your own student? So you send scrawny soujiro and kenshin to look after me. And don't even get me started with Enishi. Do you really trust him, Enishi I mean. And you don't trust me? And to top it all off you magically left then appeared again out of now where. Where have you been for the past couple of days?" as she said this she began to grow fangs but they stopped half way to their full length. Soujiro just looked at her in horror.

"Misao!" Soujiro screamed just so she could hear him over her own screaming. She looked at him expectedly.

" Misao, um I think Fudigumidigeki is um wanting to confront you," he said. That funky word is Fumiki in gibberish. He didn't know how to tell her. Misao grabbed her mouth and feeling the fangs shut up immediately.

"Guys, the room if filling up, and if you haven't noticed its already up to our knees" Kaoru said. They all looked around and sure enough it was up to their knees and rising. This bites. They all looked around, this room they were in was around 100 yards in diameter, it was a circle. They realized that the ceiling was so high they couldn't see it. The walls were leaking water and now it was up to their thighs. They frantically looked for an exit, but the water was just coming in faster. They could see it pouring into the room. It was soon at their waists.

"What should we do?" Misao asked. Now kaoru on the other hand was lounging in the water, floating on her back.

"Well I don't know what you are complaining about its nice in here." Kaoru said lounging. But she didn't realize that no one else could touch the ground. They had to swim; they were swimming around look in for an exit. But in their frantic search they were split up. Kenshin Kaoru and Soujiro took one end and Aoshi and Misao to the other. They swam around but couldn't find an opening. Misao was getting tired and she was sick of swimming. She stopped swimming and waited for Aoshi to look like he cared about what she had to say.

"Aoshi I am sick of swimming, I don't ever want to see water again. What are we going to do, it seems like we are just going to swim until we die" Misao said. They just floated there for a second when something caught Misaos eyes.

"Aoshi, what is that" she said pointing to a shiny relic looking thing on the wall. She swam up to it and looked at it. It was made of gold and had something inscribed on it.

"It says ' If you make it through the cave, and don't accept your watery grave, then pluck this medallion from the wall, and you may see the light of day after all' may is capitalized. Do you think some one is trying to warn us?" Misao asked. Aoshi grabbed the Medallion from the wall and the wall opened up. Hundreds of thousands of bats flew out of the entrance. But for some supernatural reason the water didn't spill into the doorway it just stayed there. Aoshi looked to Misao and she to him. They both dove under and swam to the entrance. They were spit out of the water as if it had a mind of its own. They were dry to, one minute they were soaking wet the next they were dry as if they had never been in the water. Good thing Aoshi kept that medallion or they couldn't close the door.

"Look another medallion" he said. (Wow he speaks) he pointed to another shiny spot on the wall. They walked over and looked at it.

"This one says 'Now that you've passed through the watery cave, its time to step up and prepare to be saved. Now you must pass a test thrice, the first shall be a game of dice.' Ok so are you lucky?" Misao asked. He shook his head yes and suddenly the cave shook. Aoshi wrapped his arm around Misao as they crouched down to the ground so incase of falling boulders they weren't crushed. Misao looked at him through all the chaos and smiled. Suddenly 2 solid gold dice the size of Misao rolled in front of Aoshi. Misao got curious as to what they were so she touched them, a bolt of electricity surged through out her body. She fell to the ground with a thud.

"Misao?" Aoshi said. He leaned down and touched her she was out cold, but suddenly she sat up. Her eyes turned white with the exception of her black pupils. She began to talk in another language.

"Misao what's wrong?" Aoshi asked.

"Oh so you speak English do you, mere mortal. I am the great goddess Aphrodite and am one of the founders of this holy temple. Aoshi Shinomori I presume? (He shook his head) Yes of course, Aoshi I am here with guidance, this is the right way to the exit of this atrocious booby-trapped tunnel but you mush roll the dice first. Since Misao, Fumiki, and Arisa already touched the dice it is your turn. Touch them and they will roll to your astronomical number. If the gods are pleased with this number you may pass if not you are eternally our servant, with exception of this mortal I am speaking through, I will use her as a guide for other adventurers. Go on now and touch the holy dice of Zeus." The goddess said. He slowly touched the dice and felt something go through him. The dice began to move and one landed on three and one landed on five. Is number is 8.

"Aoshi before I leave, I need to tell you, since I am the goddess of love, Misao this mortal loves you dearly no matter what she says" The goddess said.

"Thank you very much Aphrodite" Aoshi said. She nodded and Misao regained control over her body. They watched as the dice began to glow and the head f Hercules appeared on one of them.

"You are free to leave," he said. They walked to the door that had opened on the side. And there they found another medallion.

"'The second test is that of will, can the weaker of you get the kill, if she fails he will die, and she will have to say her sad good-bye, For if he dies she will to, for her soul is entwined with his boo-hoo (that's the best I can do guys sorry)'." Misao said. Her face went pale and she looked at him.

"This cave seems to want us together," Aoshi said with a smile.

"Aoshi what if I fail, if you die so do I and neither of us want that" Misao said. He looked at her with confidence. Suddenly he froze and his eyes now turned white.

"Misao, this is the god Poseidon and am here to give you instructions. This man is paralyzed and cannot move to defend him self. Soon a horrible monster will come raging into this room and you must find its weakness and defeat it or you both will be eaten, even if you escape and he dies not only will you face guilt but your soul will be dragged down to hell with him. You wont be able to live with your self long after that." Then Poseidon was gone. Aoshi stood there and couldn't move. Misao turned around to see a gigantic hairy beast. Half pig half man standing 100 feet tall. And it was the most evil color of all, green. Misao looked up at its sheer size and began figuring its weakness. She tried to sing it to sleep but it didn't work. She ran behind it and it watched her but didn't move. She ran in front of it. Its eyes were always watching her. So she finally figured out its weakness after running around it for half an hour. She began dancing spinning in many circles and doing back flips and front flips and many cartwheels. She spun and spun until she fell from exhaustion. THUD! The monster fell, he had watched her and got dizzy he fell from being so dizzy and now all she had to do was kill it. So she walked up to it and kicked and punched it many times. Finally she decided to do it her way. She thumped it on the nose and it woke up. It snarled at her but she just thumped it again. This went on for 5 minutes. Finally it fell into submission and did, as she wanted. She ordered it to lower its head and she grabbed Aoshi and hopped on its back she held onto its hair and ordered it to show her the wall were the opening was to be made. It walked to a wall and stopped. Misao jumped off and called out.

"Poseidon! Aphrodite! I have made your Pig/man obey me, I didn't have the heart to kill him, let alone figure out how. Please let us through!" the walls rumbled and the door opened. It worked. Misao ordered the pig/man to lower Aoshi and to be a good pig/man for the gods and goddesses.  It obeyed and once Aoshi stepped foot into the next room the spell was broken. He walked over to another medallion.

" 'Though you've passed the rest, that doesn't mean you'll pass the test, you need to trust within each other, and then you'll realize there is no other' what do you think the last part means?" Aoshi asked. Misao hadn't a clue but she just wanted to know what was going to happen. Again the walls began to shake and the ground vibrated. They held each other subconsciously.  Out of a small shadowed door there came three dark shadowed figures. They soon came into view and they were Misao's parents and Soujiro. They both sat there horrified. How did they get here? Misao's parents walked up to her and said to her:

"Misao why don't you dance for us? Show the world your dancing skills? We didn't pay for those lessons for nothing. And whose this a boy friend? There is no time to hang out with ruffians like this one here. NOW dance!" Misao didn't know what to do, she would have been defiant but she couldn't help but dance. Something was taking control of her and she couldn't stop dancing. She danced so hard and couldn't stop. She began to cry. She hated her parents and didn't want to dance any more, they pushed her so hard. She couldn't take it. She felt like she could die. Mean while soujiro walked over to Misao and began to dance with her. He danced as well as she did and to the exact tempo. In Aoshi's eyes they began to fall in love. Yes, if you think that it is a spell it is. In reality Misao is dancing by her self and crying, no parents or anything. And Aoshi sees Misao dancing passionately with soujiro.

Misao danced and danced not stopping for anything, but the only thing that went through her head was

'They're dead though, they're dead!' all Aoshi could think was

'She loves me though! She does doesn't she?'  In his eyes he saw soujiro dance with her and kiss her every few minutes, and it wasn't the kissing that tore his heart out it was that, to him Misao liked it.

"Aoshi! Help me!" Misao screamed.

"Misao! What are you talking about?" Aoshi yelled. Misao tried to kick the image of her parents but she went through them.

"Fumiki! Now's your chance to prove you are stronger than me and Arisa if you can hear me come out and stop this illusion!" Misao yelled. She fell to the ground and Fumiki came out. She laughed evilly.

"Im surprised you trust me! What do you want; you can't handle a little illusion. Hmm it seems your boyfriend cant either. You really are weak. Wait what's happening!" the soul of Fumiki was removed from Misao; it flew off far away to were her body lay dormant awaiting her arrival.  Back at the cave, Aoshi was being torn apart. And Misao couldn't stop dancing once Fumiki was gone. And Arisa wouldn't, no couldn't come out.

"No, no you cant cheat by letting some one else deal with your problems" The goddess of love said. Aoshi couldn't stand it any more. He tried to cut in but he just went right through soujiro. He grabbed Misao hand and tried to dance with her but soujiro was persistent. Misao felt that it was her parents dancing with her telling her what she constantly did wrong. Finally Aoshi couldn't take it any more he wanted Misao to know he loved her and he showed her the only way he knew how. He leaned in and kissed her. Misao felt a kiss but thought it was her parent's praise. Soon her image of them blurred and she saw Aoshi, right there, in front of her face. Kissing her, with out explanation. But she felt something, something she hadn't felt before and unexplained feeling of joy happiness and wonder. The depth of this emotion was like a bottomless pit. She knew then that he loved her as much as she loved him. They parted and stared into each other's eyes. But soon their attention was averted to a strange lingering voice of Poseidon and Aphrodite.

"Love conquers all, now it's your call, you've passed the third test, we hope your life is the best" They said. (Give me a break) they looked over to the wall and there were 5 holes in which they were to place the medallions. They put them in order and a door opened. They walked out into the bright light and found them selves surrounded by Kenshin, Kaoru, and the real Soujiro.

"We were so worried we got out of there as soon as we found a exit but you were in there a long time. What happened?" Kaoru asked. Misao and Aoshi looked at each other, they didn't really know what to say. I mean what would you say, 'um yea I just talked to the ancient Greek gods Aphrodite and Poseidon, and we had to pass three of their tests just to get out. Oh yea and did I mention that we ARENT crazy?' That wouldn't work out well, and telling soujiro that Aoshi was afraid he would take Misao away would be awkward.

"Well we were, caught up in, um a… game yea, yea a game. Sorry if we worried you." Misao said. Aoshi was laughing inside.

'What a pathetic excuse' all five of them thought. Misao just smiled, it was partly true, I mean, I guess you could call it a game a life threatening deadly game yes, but a game nonetheless. They started walking back but Misao stayed behind, Soujiro did to.

"Well you will be happy to know that Fumiki is gone." Misao said. Soujiro gave her a questioning look.

"Wait what? How?" Soujiro said. Misao looked confused too.

"Well that's a hard question, for one I don't totally know and two you wouldn't believe me if I tried to explain. All I can tell you is her spirit is now in her body that was lying dormant, just waiting for her return. But hopefully her boyfriend wont bother her." Misao said. They just began to walk into the setting sun.

"Well there go two best friends, hopefully nothing more. That Soujiro kid is strong but maybe not strong enough for Aoshi. Especially when caught in love." Aphrodite said. Even through she basically controlled love she only really had a fuzzy outline, but things always turned out all right.

A/N:

I am righting more, its just you all wanted me to put it up right away. Well here it is happy? I was happy with the 8 reviews I got from the fic. Thanks guys! I appreciate it. I didn't think people actually thought it was good. Ok well I should right some more. Cya, yours truly

Your author