Author's Note: My second fanfic, which again, is loaded with errors, plot holes, and other horrors. I also considered removing this one, but...I couldn't. I'm just too damn sentimental. -- Anywho, I really wouldn't suggest reading this story if you're allergic to cheesiness. Because this story is loaded with cheese. Really.

Disclaimer: Don't own Rurouni Kenshin, and I never will…

Prologue

Misao remembered the first few days after her parents had died. She had been told that they had 'left', and that they were 'gone.' Saying that they had 'left' implied that they were able to come back, and Misao believed that at first.

But soon, she figured out that this was not so. They would never come back. The words 'gone' and 'left' had double meanings. Sometimes 'gone' meant that something could come back, and sometimes it meant that something couldn't. Misao was confused. She never knew which one it was.

Naturally, when she had been told that Aoshi had 'left' and was 'gone', she thought that he wouldn't be coming back either. Having experienced that when her parents were 'gone', they never came back, she figured that it was the same way with Aoshi.

Yet she hoped and hoped. It was a dangerous kind of hope, almost to the point of obsession. Some people had even told her to forget him, but no matter how hard she tried, there was no way that she could. She searched for him all over Japan, yet she never found a trace of him.

Still, she never gave up hoping, hoping that one day, he would come back to her. And she was right. He did come back to her, and Misao was thankful to Kenshin for that. But she noticed that Aoshi wasn't the same man she had known before. Somehow, he had changed after the seven years that he had been gone. Misao realized that he was not all there with her.

Maybe he was gone in a way. But Misao would never stop hoping that he would one day come back to her.

"Aoshi-sama? I-I have your tea…" Misao said timidly. She set the tray gently in front of Aoshi.

"…" The only way Aoshi had acknowledged her presence was by opening his eyes.

Misao began pouring the tea into his cup. "Is it okay if I join you, Aoshi-sama?"

"Aa…"

Misao poured a second cup of tea. She plastered a smile on her face, and began talking animatedly about anything she could think of. Aoshi tuned it all out. He found Misao's voice soothing, though sometimes, he never listened to what she said.

"Do you, Aoshi-sama?" Misao asked.

Aoshi looked at Misao sharply. What was she asking me about? "I'm sorry…I didn't hear what you said," Aoshianswered quietly. He felt kind of guilty about not listening to Misao, but it wasn't like he didn't listen on purpose…

Misao turned red. "Oh…I was just asking you if you…wished it were like old times…with…with Hannya and the others…"

Aoshi looked down at his teacup, staring at the dregs as if they would give him a way out. "Aa…" he said softly. Misao heard, but she began to wonder if he actually wanted her to hear.

"Are you done with your tea, Aoshi-sama?" Misao asked.

"Aa…"

She picked up the empty teacups and put them on the tray. "I'll go now…" She stared into Aoshi's eyes, but something in them made her give an involuntary shiver. She fled, not wanting to see those eyes at the moment.

Okina stared out into the sky. Something was not right…something bad was going to happen…

He wondered exactly who was going to get hurt in the next few days. He hoped that it was no one at the Aoiya.

Aoshi's eyes snapped open. Somebody was watching him, and he felt it. The ki was laughably weak, though Aoshi was not one to laugh out loud. Why would somebody watch him? He knew that this person was not Misao…

It seemed more like a man, and anyways, it was too weak to be Misao. He turned to the area of where the man was hiding.

Aoshi then turned back and closed his eyes unconcernedly. If the man dared to attack, he would know. But Aoshi was alert because he always was.

Aoshi was not worried about Misao. She would have no problem defeating a man with this weak ki…unless he was masking it…

Misao set the tea tray on the table in the kitchen. Something in Aoshi's eyes had…scared her. They were so cold, those ice-blue eyes were…but that wasn't it. His eyes had always been cold, so it wasn't that part that had scared her.

What scared her was that they were so…empty. Their deep blue lacked the quality of emotion. His eyes were never like that before…they had always carried something in them…a certain quality that did not make them seem quite so empty.

But now…they carried nothing. His eyes were the usual icy blue hues, but...there seemed to be no substance.

Misao suspected that Aoshi felt he was beyond redemption. Misao refused to believe that Aoshi had given up. She knew that deep down, the part of Aoshi that was gone was screaming to be found. And she was the one to do it.

Misao resolved to refill those pools of emptiness.

"Do you have any information for me?" Nakago snapped at a smaller man.

"Yessir…I-I d-do…" he squeaked.

"Well? What is it?"

"T-They are at the A-Aoiya…"

"I KNOW that you imbecile…they've always been there. What I want to know is that if Aoshi Shinomori is there," Nakago snapped again.

"Y-yes…" the man whispered fearfully.

"Is there anyone else of any importance?" he asked.

"T-there was this girl that brought him tea…but I don't know if she is of any importance…my lord…" the man said, still fearing for his life. Nakago had been known to kill whomever was in the room with him when he was angry or annoyed.

"A girl, eh? Does she seem important to Shinomori?"

"Y-yes…but I'm not exactly sure…b-but he seemed to talk to her more than anybody else…"

"You are dismissed, idiot. Now leave," he commanded.

The man gave a sigh of relief and left. Nakago stared after him for a moment, smirking. He had that effect on people.

It seems that I have found my revenge, Shinomori. First, I make you suffer, and then, I kill you. You will pay for betraying me and for betraying your friends…

Author's Note: In retrospect, I regret ever writing this story. As for Nakago, I...didn't realize that he was a character from Fushigi Yuugi, because I hadn't seen it before. -- When looking for a Japanese name for a villain, I asked one of my friends, who suggested "Nakago." I'm sure she knew that I didn't know, but...oh well. It's all water under the bridge.