Misao knew that Soujiro would follow her. He was near silent, but she hadn't been trained in the arts of secrecy for nothing.
It didn't matter. If he was going to try to stop her she would do some serious damage, but he didn't seem inclined to try. He was just shadowing her. That ticked her off, but there was nothing she could do about it.
She had looked at a map before shutting off the computer so she had an excellent idea of where she was going. She clutched her throwing knives in one hand and the papers in the other. Nothing was stopping her. She was determined!
"Lord Aoshi, what are you in the middle of?" She asked under her breath.
She clambered up on a low apartment roof and dashed across the top. She didn't know what to expect and it was better to have a high vantage.
Coming to the end of the complex she looked down with keen emerald eyes. She was surprised at the large amount of people down, but she hardly paused over each looking for her Lord Aoshi.
He had a Shinsengumi member pinned. The young man didn't look more than two or three years older than herself. She hoped that Lord Aoshi wouldn't kill him.
Then a chain of events were set off that she didn't understand. All that she understood was that Lord Aoshi was about to kill some woman. She knew that Lord Aoshi killed. It was unavoidable. But she could see at a glance that the woman wasn't a fighter. She didn't hold herself right and the only thing keeping her upright properly was her concentration.
"Lord Aoshi!" Misao heard her own voice tearing from her throat. He paused in mid-lunge before twisting his well aimed blade up away from the ribcage.
Misao knew he had heard her yet he didn't turn around. Well, you stupid girl, he's doing his job! One part of her screamed. Another didn't want him to do anything. She wanted him to leave. The nasty jerk deserved what he reaped. Let the people finish him! She knew that was impossible. He wouldn't just allow that to happen.
"Misao, you can't go down there!" Soujiro said behind her. She lashed out, but he grabbed her arms urgently and no amount of thrashing dislodged his iron grip.
"But Lord Aoshi..." She half-snarled, half-pleaded.
"Can take care of himself." Soujiro finished seriously. "He doesn't need you to distract him."
That gave her pause, but she jerked around to look at the boy's unsmiling face.
"What he's doing is wrong! I have to stop him."
"It's not your place to decide." Soujiro replied bluntly. He was eyeing her oddly and she realized his face looked so much nicer without a forced smile.
She felt torn. She recognized the truth in Soujiro's words and despite herself she trusted him. He wouldn't hurt her. She couldn't say how she knew this, but she did. But she had spent the better part of her life trailing and looking up to Lord Aoshi. She loved him, didn't she? She would die for him. She couldn't, wouldn't let him do something like this. Then he really would be a soulless monster. She wouldn't be able to close her eyes to it. The suffering, the pain he was causing to reach his ends.
She yanked her wrist down and twisted it out of his grip. He made a full body grab for her and missed. She danced nimbly away and leapt off the low roof. Her landing was a bit jarring, she hadn't the time to measure the distance and her take off was too hasty. The shock that ran through her legs hardly registered. She was up and rolling within an instant.
"Lord Aoshi!" She tried again. This time he whirled, but the look in his eye was devoid of any compassion. He truly looked like a cold blooded killer and that look didn't soften as it landed on her.
"Misao." Cold, harsh. He didn't have to stay more. He didn't want her here.
She gathered her courage, "You can't do this Lord Aoshi!"
She couldn't explain what exactly "this" was or why he couldn't do it, but that's what came out of her mouth.
"Go home."
That shattered her courage and sparked her anger. Go home? Go home! She wasn't a dog. She didn't have a collar with tags that said, if found please return to... Grrr!
He turned without saying more, ignoring her completely. She felt broken. Why had she even thought she could sway him? What was she to him anyway. Nothing but an annoying little girl! Tears filled her eyes and she almost sank down in the middle of the fighting to cry.
She felt a slight tug on her arm and she looked up to see Soujiro. He looked very pale and he tugged again. She meekly followed him back onto the roof still lost in her thoughts.
Suddenly she was encompassed in a pair of strong arms. She leaned into the hug crying helplessly. Years of hope crushed. She knew now what she had always known. She was nothing to Lord Aoshi, nothing. Not in that way.
"Shh," Soujiro comforted and she felt his hands petting her hair. "Shh, it's okay. Don't worry, you'll be okay."
She hardly heard the words he was crooning and it didn't strike her as odd that he was behaving so familiarly.
"He still loves you Misao." Soujiro assured her in the same tone as the rest of his murmuring. "Just not in that way I don't think."
Then it struck her, "Not like you do?"
The petting stopped and she looked up to see an utterly genuine smile on his face along with a nice, pink tinge.
"Was I that obvious?"
A/N:: And that little bit of disgusting fluff was sponsered by Fyyrrose (she threatened to a) fly overseas b) meet me in France c) kick my er, you get the picture, if her boy didn't get sometime. *sweatdrop* Don't any of the rest of you get any ideas O__O;;
eriesalia: Good point, archers would be infinately useful! But then Aoshi wouldn't have a reason to go all psycho when all his friend are killed O__o Unless he just felt like it. Hiko's had as much fun as he's going to this time around.
MissBehavin: If he did, what little he has are about to be ripped out. But intestines work too ^^;; Maybe they should take ticket numbers? Hehe.
Fyyrrose: Aw, shut up. My life starts in a week so nah :P You need to finish LIOAP. I want to see what you do to Hob- er, Hojo and N. *laughing* And the half-assed death threats the reviewers will give. Do you think they learned anything from me? Thanks for tearing apart Addiction *big grin*It really needed it -__-' It's almost done, it did seem shorter in Italy. That's because I wrote the last two or three chapters on the plane/in SC. *points* I write short stories... okay, Addiction was long for a one-shot, but my lemon JaGF and The Golden Persimmon were under 10 pages. Butch! *starts laughing* I love dobies, but I don't know if I actually want one. I prefer greyhounds or shelties. Feed away, I always accept donations ;) BAKA. You want to influence the eppy of TDTI right? Hey Raven, don't mess it up too much okay? I think this late in the game there's not going to be fresh meat :(
Wistful-Eyes: I use pencils ^^ *stares at cd-rom* ^^;;; I don't think I can do that any more since I now have math computer software (which was hella expensive might I add). That just means my classes will involve a computer, yay! Someone has to save her... or do they *snicker*O.o Okay, even I'm not mean enough to mess with the 6 yr old. My rules say no messing with anyone under the age of 15 (you need see Yahiko being messed with do you? Misao's still fair game >=]). Your review popped up right after the one that freaked me out because it was so "normal and nice". Hehe, made sense to me.