Lessons Well Learned

By Violet Ice

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As I said before, this will turn into an Aoshi/Misao if you're patient enough…I promise the chapter following this one will be nothing but the two of them at his house while he helps her study. You just have to be patient with me…

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Sunday dawned gray and dreary; perfect weather for staying inside.

Miru and Meibi both slept well into the afternoon.

Kamatari took his brother to the store for milk and bread at his mother's request.

Aoshi was up at the crack of dawn, meditating on the floor of his mother's sunroom, preparing for the trials that were sure to come in the later portion of the day.

Misao woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep; she was a bundle of nerves and wasn't quite sure why. Her stomach was doing back flips at the thought of going to Aoshi's house, spending the afternoon with him, alone, no one there but the two of them…

She finally gave up on trying to go back to sleep around ten o'clock. Her mother was reading the newspaper in the kitchen and her stepfather was still asleep when she padded barefoot downstairs. "Morning, Mom." She greeted her mother as she pulled open the refrigerator.

"You're up early." Came her mother's voice from behind the paper.

"I couldn't sleep, so I figured I might as well get up." She wrinkled her nose at the sight of all the health food in the fridge. Her mother was on one of those vegetarian kicks that were so popular and there was next to nothing the teen considered edible.

"You couldn't sleep?"

"I've got a big test tomorrow."

"Oh."

"I'm going out later to study."

"To Kaoru's?"

"No." She closed the door and began rustling through the cupboards.

"Where then?"

"My tutor's house. He lives near Kaoru. He's gonna help me so I can get a good grade this time." Nothing in the cupboards either. She sighed in exasperation.

"Since when do you care about grades?" Was her mother's next question.

She ignored the sarcasm. "Since he started treating me like an idiot. I want to prove to him that he's not any smarter than me. I hate him and I can't wait to laugh when I ace a test."

"That's nice, dear."

Her eyes rolled heavenward as she left the room. Had her mom even been listening to her? Did it matter? And why couldn't she stop thinking about Aoshi?

And hour later, showered and neatly dressed, Misao made her second appearance in the kitchen. Her mother hadn't moved from the table; now she was drinking coffee and shuffling through the stock market section of the paper. Her stepfather had appeared at the table too and he was reading the sports page and eating toast.

"I'm going out to get breakfast." She announced to no one in particular, knowing full well it didn't matter if she told them or not because they wouldn't even realize she was gone.

Stopping by the front door to grab her jacket, she ran hastily down the steps and to the wrought iron fence. There was a bakery down the block and around the corner that she and Kaoru went to on the way to school sometimes and she was headed in that direction.

She looked around as she wandered down the street. The sun was making a feeble attempt to break through the clouds. It was blah and chilly; winter was on its way at last. Leaves littered the sidewalk and the finely manicured lawns of her neighbors. There were no signs of life from any of the houses; which didn't really surprise her. Sunday mornings in her neighborhood were usually lazy and slow.

The bell on the bakery's door tinkled merrily as she entered the store and she was greeted by a welcoming aroma of cinnamon, baking bread and chocolate. Closing her eyes a moment, she inhaled, then her lashes fluttered across her cheeks as she looked around the small shop to see if there was any one she knew.

Her gaze came to rest on a little boy who looked to be about eight or nine. He was neatly dressed in navy blue slacks and a sky blue polo shirt, his dark, silky hair falling around his face, which was pressed up against the glass of the display case. An older girl, perhaps his sister, was holding his hand as she chatted amiably with the man behind the counter. She was slender, dressed in flared khakis and a brick red turtleneck sweater. Her short hair fell just above her shoulders, stylishly bobbed, and when she turned to ask the boy a question, Misao nearly did a double-take.

Of course the "girl" who's style she had been admiring turned out to be Kamatari.

"You may pick out one thing you'd like, Sou." He told the little boy, "Or else Mama will tell me I'm spoiling you again."

"Okay." The boy beamed up at him happily, then looked back at the spread before him.

Misao stared at them a moment longer before she felt some one shove her out of the way. Snapping back to attention, she looked to see who had pushed her. A university-age girl had flounced into the store, both her shirt and her hip-hugger jeans a size too tight, her hair pulled up in a messy bun. She brushed past Misao without so much as an "excuse me" and made her way right over to the counter.

Misao's eyes narrowed. She didn't care how much older than her that tramp was; no one pushed her. She flipped her braid over her shoulder and was about to storm over and demand an apology when she saw the little boy smile at the young woman.

"Hi Yumi!" He exclaimed cheerfully.

She smiled down at him, crouching to be on his level. "Hi there, Kiddo. I haven't seen you in a while."

"I got a new family." He said quiet seriously, the grin never leaving his face. Only his brilliant blue eyes hinted at the slightest emotion.

"It's about time." She glanced up at Kamatari, who frowned at the sight of this woman in her low-cut shirt, cleavage ready to spill out. "Is this your new sister, Sojiro?"

Misao watched, intrigued. What would the kid say to that? Surely, if he was Kamatari's brother, he knew the truth, didn't he? This had potential to get interesting.

"No." Sojiro replied matter-of-factly, "This is my new brother." He stressed the last word, to which the older boy's face immediately flushed red as the woman looked up at him, disgusted. Her expression was so hateful that Misao wondered if Kamatari would cry, but no, he kept his pride and stared back at her evenly.

"You're a boy?" She asked scathingly, her eyebrow rising.

"Yes." Even if he wasn't willing to show her that she upset him, his voice sounded strained, "And who might you be?"

"I used to baby-sit for Sojiro when he was with his biological family. I'm glad he's with a new family, but maybe the agency should have chosen more carefully when they placed him." Was her snide response. She rose to her feet, patting the child on the head, then turned to the baker to tell him what she wanted.

Misao watched for a moment longer as the little boy once again began the debate over what treat he wanted and Kamatari stood there, his big brown eyes filling up with tears, his chin trembling. She wanted to slap that woman for insulting a person she didn't even know, but then a thought crossed her mind.

Is that how I treat people? Like they're scum and I'm the greatest thing living? No wonder Aoshi can't stand me. No wonder he tells me I'm hopeless. No wonder Kaoru hates me now…I'm a terrible person.

She stood frozen in the spot, mulling over this, as Yumi brushed past her on her way out, then looked up when the baker addressed her. "Hey, Kid, do ya want something or not?"

"Oh; yes, I'm sorry." She apologized. Kamatari was giving her a funny look and his brother looked at her too, a questioning look in his eyes. She went past them, smiling faintly and saying hello to Kamatari, who looked surprised that she actually spoke to him.

She ordered herself a cinnamon bun and a mocha, then sat down at one of the small tables to eat, still contemplating the notion that she was a horrible human being. She was trying to think back over the past few years to a time when she had been nice to some one; a time when she'd put others before herself, and nothing was coming to mind.

This troubled her deeply.

"How come you're frowning?"

She looked up at the sound of Sojiro's voice. He was standing next to the table, eating a chocolate chip cookie and grinning at her. Watching him munch happily on his treat for a moment made her long for the days when she had been that young and innocent, but she knew she would never be so lucky as to experience that again. "I'm frowning because I'm unhappy." She told him honestly.

His blue eyes widened. "Why? Did something bad happened? When bad things happened to me, people took me away and I got a new family and now bad things don't happen any more." He smiled knowingly, taking another bite of the cookie.

"Nothing bad happened. I'm just not a very nice person and mean people are unhappy a lot."

"You said hi to Kamatari. That was nice of you. Most people don't talk to him. Are you his friend? Are you going to be his girlfriend? Then maybe people would think he was normal and every one would be nice to him. It makes me mad when people are mean to him."

"Sojiro…" Kamatari had appeared behind the little boy, his eyes lit with nervousness, "Don't pester Misao."

"He's not bothering me." She turned her cerulean gaze upwards, taking in Kamatari's worried face as she wiped her hands on a napkin. "I don't mind at all. I didn't even know you had a brother, Kamatari."

"They only got me a year ago." Sojiro informed her, "Cause my other Dad and Mama and brothers and sister used to hurt me. So I have a new Dad and Mama and Kamatari is my new big brother and you would never hurt me, right Kamatari?"

"Right." The older boy affirmed, smiling affectionately down at his brother.

"And Mama says that you're the best big brother I could have ever got 'cause you're so nice." He looked back at Misao, "Lots of people are mean to Kamatari 'cause of the way he looks, but it doesn't matter what they say because I know he's a nice person. Maybe people are the same way to you. Maybe on the inside you're really a nice person too. Maybe you just don't know 'cause no one's ever told you that. I thought all the bad things that happened to me were my fault because that's what every one told me."

Misao stared at her hands, which were wrapped around her cup. How was it that a child was wiser than she was? How did this little boy understand everything better than she ever could? She looked up at him, studying his smiling face, his bright blue eyes, then turned her gaze to Kamatari, who looked back at her, his soft eyes revealing all sorts of sorrows to her. "I'm sorry." She said softly, her gaze dropping back to the table top.

"Excuse me?" He looked at her curiously, wondering what exactly she was apologizing for.

"I'm sorry. The other day, I saw what happened to you in the parking lot and didn't do anything about it. And I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Something stirred in his heart for her. She seemed to be withdrawn and tired, not the way she usually was. Even if he didn't know a thing about her besides the fact that she was rich and bratty, he could tell this wasn't what she was really like. "Stuff like that happens to me a lot."

"That doesn't make it okay. I should have done something to help you."

"And get yourself beat up? No; there was no reason for you to do that for me." He countered, wondering what was wrong with her. Normally, she wouldn't give some one like him the time of day.

"I deserve to be beat up. I'm hopeless, just like Aoshi says. Some one should have slapped some sense into me a long time ago. I saw Miru come running to rescue you that day and I was jealous."

"Jealous?" Kamatari blinked, "You do know he's gay, right?"

"I was jealous because I don't think any one has ever cared that much about me." She rose to throw away her trash, "He really loves you and I would give anything to know what that's like."

Kamatari was silent for a moment, watching as she made her way to the garbage can, as she pushed her trash through the flap and into the receptacle; as her long braid bounced against her back while she walked. "You don't know what you're saying, do you? He doesn't love me and you wouldn't want a man like him in your life."

"How can you stand there and say he doesn't love you? I saw that boy take a beating for you three days ago and you dare to look me in the eye and tell me he doesn't feel anything for you? How do you live with yourself? That was the nastiest looking black eye I've ever seen in my life and it could have been yours." She zipped up her jacket, "And you honestly think he doesn't love you?"

More silence followed. How was he supposed to respond to that? If she was basing her opinion of Miru on what she saw that afternoon, she hadn't seen much. There was so much more to him that she didn't understand. Like that next morning on the way to school…But he didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about Miru at all. It made his heart ache to even hear the other boy's name.

"I think you don't know what you're saying." Misao concluded as she pushed open the door, the bells once again singing gleefully, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a study session with that frigid tutor of mine."

Kamatari watched as the door swung shut behind her. Then he sighed, looking down at Sojiro. "Come on, Kiddo. We might as well go home. Mama'll be wondering what happened to us." Mechanically, he placed his hand in Sojiro's; his mind a million miles away as he thought of Miru. Maybe she's right. Maybe she's right and I was wrong…

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Note: I'd like to explain why I made Sojiro Kamatari's brother. I think this works nicely for several reasons. Sojiro and Kamatari are on friendly terms with one another (in the manga, Kamatari really does refer to him as "Sou"), there's a considerable age gap between them and, well, Sojiro's family sucks so I wanted him to have something better. I know he's very OOC, but he is only about 9 years old in this, so no complaints! Nyeah! =^_^=