Author's Notes–This was supposed to come after a new chapter to my other fic, but.. *phht* like anything ever happens in the order that I say it will. So, here is Earth-Shattering, Chapter 4.. maybe a bit of WAFF. Hints of history, more couples, and introduction of a new character. Hm.. is this actually getting interesting? *gasp* no.. O.o It can't be! Read on to discover what mysteries lie in Chapter 4 of Earth-Shattering!
Disclaimer–Again, I'm 15. I finally have a job, but not enough to own Kenshin. Think of this as borrowing him.. ^^* AU rocks, doesn't it? But I still don't own it, Watsuki Nobuhiro-sama and quite a large number of people wealthier than I do.. so, just read my take on it!
-----------------------------------
Kaoru walked out of the dojo very slowly. She looked at the grass, the clouds, the expanse before her, as if she were seeking it for the first time.. all over again. Nature always mystified her.
They were slated to go searching. Simply the promise of going outside and helping others seemed to lighten both Kenshin and Kaoru's moods, Misao noted. Perhaps it would lighten hers, too.. to help her in forgetting of that fateful night.. of Aoshi-sama. These people mystified her.
Kenshin watched as Misao exited into the garden, then waited a moment as Kaoru stepped out from the shoji. She appeared so happy in this moment. She was beautiful to him, standing as the rays of the morning sun danced across her face and the first winds of the day reached out to play with her hair. She mystified him.
Together, they all walked through the gates of the old dojo and walked down the path a bit.. The road beside the river seemed to stretch on forever.. it mystified them all. "Which way should we go today?" asked Kaoru, looking down the road, and then toward the village of Shingetsuo.
"Yesterday, we went North and found Misao-dono. Perhaps we will find someone going South today." Kenshin offered. "You aren't on the look-out for anyone, are you guys?"
"You know my story, possibly an old army man looking for me, but no one other than that." Kaoru answered, smiling. The two turned their attention to the youngster before them. She was rigid, her face had temporarily paled.
"No.. no one.." Misao finally managed to choke out. It was obvious to the older of the three that they had struck a nerve, and a nerve that was best left alone for the time being.
"South it is then, there was a town about ten miles down from here, along the river. It's just a little from the place that I found you, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin smiled, the cross-shaped scar on his right face tilting upwards a bit.
Then it hit Kaoru.. the cross-shaped scar. She'd never noticed it before now. It didn't seem fresh or anything.. nor did it look like a very old scar. But it seemed to complement his features perfectly.. as if he were born with it, and it was a part of him. Perhaps, as a samurai, he had seen combat? She would have to ask him later, for the party turned southward and began wandering down the street.
They talked of trivial things, very, very small talk that didn't really interest any of them.. and, after a few miles of walking in zori and talking of what type of radish seasoned rice better, the conversation just died. Then they saw it.. a dark speck on the horizon in front of them, that was coming closer.
"A person!" Kaoru exclaimed. "Somebody to help!"
"Probably just wants some water or something.. that's all that most people want lately." Misao said pessimistically. She was cut short by Kaoru's jumping up and down, flailing her limbs wildly, calling out to the approaching dark speck. "She's crazy.."
"Ne. She's just very enthusiastic, de gozaru yo." Kenshin stated, his grin growing as the approaching dark speck became an approaching dark figure that waved back. After a few more hundred yards, they could begin to make out the figure's clothes.
The person called cheerfully, "Oi, there!" It was definitely a man. He wore deep-slitted blue hakama, a light-blue and blue gi, opened a little to reveal a white-collared, foreign-looking shirt. He also carried a sword!.. but he seemed friendly..
Kaoru was the first to speak whenever he was close enough to talk. One would think that it was her first time meeting another human. With boundless energy, she said, "Oi! I'm Kamiya Kaoru, this is Himura Kenshin, and this is–"
"Makimachi Misao never gives her name to strangers!"
The man's eyes bugged at the young, purple-clad girl in front of him, wondering if she realized what she had just said. She didn't appear to, so he played along. "Ahh, but Seta Soujirou does." His grin was even wider than that which Kenshin wore.
"What can we help you with, Seta-dono?" Kenshin asked, unsuspiciously.
"Call me Soujirou, really. I'm just looking for a place to stay." Soujirou just continued to smile, his hands crossed around his chest.
"That's good, we have a dojo and rice farm not far from here. Perhaps you'd like to stay with us for a bit? It's quite roomy." Kaoru offered. She then glanced at Kenshin. "Oi.. I'm an idiot. It's actually his dojo, I'm just constantly inviting people to stay with us."
"It's alright, Kaoru-dono, I think we could handle taking him in. It's only been a week since the earthquake, we should be able to offer what help we can, Soujirou-dono." Kenshin reciprocated Soujirou's smile.
To the girls in the group, this was hilarious. Each of the men seemed to be in a battle at whose grin was the widest. Soujirou appeared to be winning, but Kenshin was gaining on him! They turned and started walking back towards the dojo, Kenshin and Soujirou, still smiling, led the way as Kaoru and Misao, giggling like mad, fell behind.
-~-~-~-~-
The walk back from the dojo was almost as uneventful as the walk from it. They had picked up Soujirou, a 16-year-old boy that dreamed of foreign lands and grinned more than humanly possible. Soujirou looked at the expansive complex that was the abandoned dojo. "This place is huge. And those rice fields in the back there.. how many acres are there?"
"I counted thirty, but there are a few more that haven't yet been flooded. I can't figure out the irrigation system to this place. There's also a smaller garden in the back of the fields, some vegetables are nearly ready for picking. There are some gardening tools in a small shed in the back." Kenshin talked absentmindedly, following around the newcomer. Misao and Kaoru trekked along, all the while still giggling at the grinning guys.
"I didn't know that all of this was back here." Kaoru commented as they reached a rice field. She knelt down, moved back her sleeve and reached, with delicate fingers, to the nearby flooded acre and a stalk lying therein. "It's so beautiful.. growing things."
Kenshin knelt down beside her, staring at her profile. "Does it spark any memories?"
For a few moments, Kaoru didn't answer him, just gazed wonderingly at the stalk of rice. "Eh? What.. Oh, sorry.. no.. I've just always bee amazed by nature."
Misao and Soujirou laughed lightly, but Kenshin merely nodded and stood, assisting Kaoru to do the same. Kenshin turned around a bit, surveying the landscape. "My father was a farmer, but I don't remember much about rice farming. Do either of you know anything?"
"Not really.." Misao said, distantly.
"I do." Soujirou's smile widened to reveal perfectly straight, white teeth.
"Funny, I thought that you samurai only fought." Misao commented, "This baka rurouni does the laundry and cooks, and this samurai knows about farming."
"And thank Kami-sama for it, Misao-dono. Without Soujirou-dono here, we wouldn't be able to harvest all of this rice!" Kenshin chuckled.
"Hai. It was good training." Soujirou smirked.
"Let Misao and I go and change out of these kimono into worker's clothes, like your own, and we'll be out here to join you." Kaoru said, not wanting to dirty such a fine piece of clothing, especially if it wasn't exactly hers.
"That's alright. Be back out in ten minutes, ne?" Soujirou asked, pondering how long it could possibly take for a woman to change into hakama and gi.. much less two women.
"Erm.. yea.." Misao laughed, the two girls turned their backs on the boys and walked down towards their rooms in the dojo.
"Here I am, sixteen, and I just don't understand women." Soujirou sighed.
"Don't feel badly.. I'm twenty-eight and I still don't." Kenshin noted. He blinked and was suddenly face-to-face with Kaoru.
"You're 28?!?!" She glared at him, disbelievingly.
"Hai." Kenshin nodded, a look of fear encroaching on his usual pallid features. "And you have very good hearing."
"There's no way!" Kaoru stated.
"Actually there is, I mean, you heard me from about half-way to the dojo.. that has to be about two hundred yards." Kenshin calculated.
"Not that, you idiot! You.. 28?!" Kaoru arched an eyebrow.
"Hai." Kenshin nodded, backing away and trying not to step in the rice field, his hands raised in defense.
"But... you don't look it." Kaoru said, her voice calming down a bit.
"You should always focus on the task at hand, not the results." Soujirou inserted.
"Eh?" Kaoru and Kenshin simultaneously asked, sweatdropping.
"Exactly. Kaoru- san, let's go and get dressed. Kenshin and Soujirou will explore around here a bit." Misao almost translated Soujirou's vague statement. For once, Kaoru simply found herself speechless and followed Misao into the dojo.
"I say again, I'll never understand women." Soujirou stated.
"And, in turn, they'll never be able to understand us." The rurouni mused. The two followed straight rows of grassy land, sharply contrasting the water-covered rice fields. "I'm into the whole farming idea, I just don't want to end up permanently stooped like all of those elderly farmers you see around here.."
"Chances of that are slim to none, that comes from an entire lifetime of farming." Soujirou explained.
"Oh."
"Besides, a student of Hiten Mitsuruugi wouldn't be permanently stooped by just the lowly act of farming." Soujirou grinned wider, once more.
"Oro?!?!" Kenshin chuckled, bewildered. "Is that fact plastered all over my face or something?"
"Plastered all over that scar." Soujirou nodded. "You precede yourself, so to speak."
"Ahh, Soujirou-dono has heard of me.. and my none-too-proudful history?"
"Hai. Imagine, running into the Hitokiri Battousai whilst traveling around.. It's every samurai's dream!"
"Do you intend to kill me or something?" Kenshin asked, puzzled by the young man's expression and demeanor.. was this kid plotting something?
"Iie.. I was just taught that a samurai should choose a side in battle." Soujirou smiled even wider, continuing their journey down the route of ground laying through a labyrinth of ponds. "These four fields here seem ready for harvest. There's really not much to it.. just pluck a few things out of the ground, hang them to dry on those stick-constructions over there. Leave them to dry for a few weeks, then prepare and preserve the grain as you will."
"I'll be sure to remember that. Now, in the mean-time.. what do you know of my past?" Kenshin asked, the most straightfoward that probably anyone currently in the dojo had ever seen him.
-~-~-~-~-~-
Kaoru and Misao had no luck in Misao's room looking for a pair of hakama. Whomever had possessed Misao's room previously did not particularly like hakama, it seemed. Thus, the girls were venturing into Kaoru's room for Japanese deep-slitted pants. It was an easy enough search. The closet had a small section of them in the back. Along with martial arts practice gi.
The girls donned matching navy-colored hakama, and tan-colored practice gi. They could have passed for sisters. This sparked an idea in Kaoru's head. "Misao-chan, do you have any family?"
"Ermm..." Misao was silent. She resumed the same rigidity as before, only moving to tie the hakama. "I can trust you not to tell anyone, ne, Kaoru?"
"Hai." Came the answer Misao desired..
"Someone might be searching for me. His name is Aoshi-sama."
"-sama?"
"Yea, he was the okashira of the Oniwabonshuu band of ninja. I belong to that particular band. But I haven't seen him in a while. He's the closest thing I would consider to family, since old man Okina died." Misao continued on, refusing to meet Kaoru's eyes, lest she should be met with questioning ones.
"Alright." Kaoru said, smiling. She finished tying her own hakama knots, made sure that her kimono was neatly put away, and then turned toward the younger girl. "You ready to go and get dirty?"
Although she didn't think that it was possible, Misao smiled. "Hai!"
Talking about traditional Japanese clothes and the boys that were currently standing over a stalk of green-looking rice (knee-deep in water), the girls continued their venture back into the fields.
"... That's all that's out in the public?" Kaoru heard Kenshin say in a hushed, hurried tone.
Soujirou emitted a small 'yes' before clamming up and the girls arrived.
"Kaoru-dono, I almost didn't recognize you dressed in men's clothing!" Kenshin laughed, and it afforded him a huge whelp and a long string of 'orororo..'.
"You bought that upon yourself, Kenshin." Misao laughed. She couldn't believe it. With these people that she barely knew, she was laughing. Who would have thought.. her, the bubbly-personalitied Misao would ever be laughing after what happened. It almost made her question if it really had happened.. Hadn't it?
Soujirou noted that he was suddenly feeling happier than usual as well. His talk with Kenshin had lightened his usually overly-happy mood and this young girl, Misao, was quite cute. Oh my! Was she looking at him just now? Was that a look of sorrow in her eyes? Or wonder? Oh my! He tried to speak, his voice uncharacteristically an octave higher. "Well, the best thing to do now is just get dirty." Oh my! Was she laughing at him now?
The respective people paired off, Kaoru and Kenshin picked one of the fields to the left to begin plucking stalks from the ground.. Misao and Soujirou picked one a field over.
As they plucked, Kenshin and Kaoru maintained a steady conversation of the controversy of allowing foreign people to enter Japan or not. 'Westernization' other countries were calling it, 'industrialization'.. Should Japan have that? Kaoru said that she didn't really care either way, if they allowed them in, traditions would be forgotten (most likely), but they would gain the benefit of technology.. then there was always complicated foreign politics. Kenshin agreed. They strung out a conversation like this, debating various political and religious topics, still plucking at mid-day.
Misao and Soujirou just plucked a stalked, looked at each other, then moved on to the next stalk. Not a word was spoken between them, their sideglances and furious blush would have spelled it out to anyone. But they weren't just anyone... they were the uberly-giddy Makimachi Misao and Seta Soujirou! They had to be juvenile!, at least, those were the thoughts running through Soujirou's mind. Continuing this adventure would prove to be tiring, Misao was thinking. But they were having enough trouble harvesting rice and trying to read each other's body language, let alone each other's mind.
At mid-day, the party stopped, with Kenshin and Kaoru (walking a little closer to each other than before, Misao noted) gesturing wildly to the still side-glancing-and-grinning teens to go back to the dojo and have dinner with them.
"It's one o'clock, let's go have lunch!" Screamed Kenshin's manic movements. Misao and Soujirou finally took the hint and they walked back (closer than before, Kaoru noted) with each other.
It was shaping up to be a rather weird day. So mystifying!
----------------------------------
Oi, this fic rocks my socks. ^^* This chapter really isn't anything–it's just leading up to more action, more WAFF, more K/K, and S/M. The next chapter will probably come shortly.. probably even before my other fic's next chapter does. X.x
Oh, and I raise the rating a bit, some of what happened in early chapters with Yahiko's body and such may be a bit gory for the little kiddies, ne? If you think it's better at PG, feel free to tell me.
TO THE REVIEWERS! ^^* Thanks! Many, many, many, many thanks! Reviews are quite inspiring. (Though, you do even help to point out some of those mistakes that I'm constantly making. [i.e – did I really put that they read left-to-right? I know that they read right-to-left, how could I even be thinking left-to-right? O.o])
Please review again, tsukino-chan loves reviews. ^^*
More coming soon!
Disclaimer–Again, I'm 15. I finally have a job, but not enough to own Kenshin. Think of this as borrowing him.. ^^* AU rocks, doesn't it? But I still don't own it, Watsuki Nobuhiro-sama and quite a large number of people wealthier than I do.. so, just read my take on it!
-----------------------------------
Kaoru walked out of the dojo very slowly. She looked at the grass, the clouds, the expanse before her, as if she were seeking it for the first time.. all over again. Nature always mystified her.
They were slated to go searching. Simply the promise of going outside and helping others seemed to lighten both Kenshin and Kaoru's moods, Misao noted. Perhaps it would lighten hers, too.. to help her in forgetting of that fateful night.. of Aoshi-sama. These people mystified her.
Kenshin watched as Misao exited into the garden, then waited a moment as Kaoru stepped out from the shoji. She appeared so happy in this moment. She was beautiful to him, standing as the rays of the morning sun danced across her face and the first winds of the day reached out to play with her hair. She mystified him.
Together, they all walked through the gates of the old dojo and walked down the path a bit.. The road beside the river seemed to stretch on forever.. it mystified them all. "Which way should we go today?" asked Kaoru, looking down the road, and then toward the village of Shingetsuo.
"Yesterday, we went North and found Misao-dono. Perhaps we will find someone going South today." Kenshin offered. "You aren't on the look-out for anyone, are you guys?"
"You know my story, possibly an old army man looking for me, but no one other than that." Kaoru answered, smiling. The two turned their attention to the youngster before them. She was rigid, her face had temporarily paled.
"No.. no one.." Misao finally managed to choke out. It was obvious to the older of the three that they had struck a nerve, and a nerve that was best left alone for the time being.
"South it is then, there was a town about ten miles down from here, along the river. It's just a little from the place that I found you, Kaoru-dono." Kenshin smiled, the cross-shaped scar on his right face tilting upwards a bit.
Then it hit Kaoru.. the cross-shaped scar. She'd never noticed it before now. It didn't seem fresh or anything.. nor did it look like a very old scar. But it seemed to complement his features perfectly.. as if he were born with it, and it was a part of him. Perhaps, as a samurai, he had seen combat? She would have to ask him later, for the party turned southward and began wandering down the street.
They talked of trivial things, very, very small talk that didn't really interest any of them.. and, after a few miles of walking in zori and talking of what type of radish seasoned rice better, the conversation just died. Then they saw it.. a dark speck on the horizon in front of them, that was coming closer.
"A person!" Kaoru exclaimed. "Somebody to help!"
"Probably just wants some water or something.. that's all that most people want lately." Misao said pessimistically. She was cut short by Kaoru's jumping up and down, flailing her limbs wildly, calling out to the approaching dark speck. "She's crazy.."
"Ne. She's just very enthusiastic, de gozaru yo." Kenshin stated, his grin growing as the approaching dark speck became an approaching dark figure that waved back. After a few more hundred yards, they could begin to make out the figure's clothes.
The person called cheerfully, "Oi, there!" It was definitely a man. He wore deep-slitted blue hakama, a light-blue and blue gi, opened a little to reveal a white-collared, foreign-looking shirt. He also carried a sword!.. but he seemed friendly..
Kaoru was the first to speak whenever he was close enough to talk. One would think that it was her first time meeting another human. With boundless energy, she said, "Oi! I'm Kamiya Kaoru, this is Himura Kenshin, and this is–"
"Makimachi Misao never gives her name to strangers!"
The man's eyes bugged at the young, purple-clad girl in front of him, wondering if she realized what she had just said. She didn't appear to, so he played along. "Ahh, but Seta Soujirou does." His grin was even wider than that which Kenshin wore.
"What can we help you with, Seta-dono?" Kenshin asked, unsuspiciously.
"Call me Soujirou, really. I'm just looking for a place to stay." Soujirou just continued to smile, his hands crossed around his chest.
"That's good, we have a dojo and rice farm not far from here. Perhaps you'd like to stay with us for a bit? It's quite roomy." Kaoru offered. She then glanced at Kenshin. "Oi.. I'm an idiot. It's actually his dojo, I'm just constantly inviting people to stay with us."
"It's alright, Kaoru-dono, I think we could handle taking him in. It's only been a week since the earthquake, we should be able to offer what help we can, Soujirou-dono." Kenshin reciprocated Soujirou's smile.
To the girls in the group, this was hilarious. Each of the men seemed to be in a battle at whose grin was the widest. Soujirou appeared to be winning, but Kenshin was gaining on him! They turned and started walking back towards the dojo, Kenshin and Soujirou, still smiling, led the way as Kaoru and Misao, giggling like mad, fell behind.
-~-~-~-~-
The walk back from the dojo was almost as uneventful as the walk from it. They had picked up Soujirou, a 16-year-old boy that dreamed of foreign lands and grinned more than humanly possible. Soujirou looked at the expansive complex that was the abandoned dojo. "This place is huge. And those rice fields in the back there.. how many acres are there?"
"I counted thirty, but there are a few more that haven't yet been flooded. I can't figure out the irrigation system to this place. There's also a smaller garden in the back of the fields, some vegetables are nearly ready for picking. There are some gardening tools in a small shed in the back." Kenshin talked absentmindedly, following around the newcomer. Misao and Kaoru trekked along, all the while still giggling at the grinning guys.
"I didn't know that all of this was back here." Kaoru commented as they reached a rice field. She knelt down, moved back her sleeve and reached, with delicate fingers, to the nearby flooded acre and a stalk lying therein. "It's so beautiful.. growing things."
Kenshin knelt down beside her, staring at her profile. "Does it spark any memories?"
For a few moments, Kaoru didn't answer him, just gazed wonderingly at the stalk of rice. "Eh? What.. Oh, sorry.. no.. I've just always bee amazed by nature."
Misao and Soujirou laughed lightly, but Kenshin merely nodded and stood, assisting Kaoru to do the same. Kenshin turned around a bit, surveying the landscape. "My father was a farmer, but I don't remember much about rice farming. Do either of you know anything?"
"Not really.." Misao said, distantly.
"I do." Soujirou's smile widened to reveal perfectly straight, white teeth.
"Funny, I thought that you samurai only fought." Misao commented, "This baka rurouni does the laundry and cooks, and this samurai knows about farming."
"And thank Kami-sama for it, Misao-dono. Without Soujirou-dono here, we wouldn't be able to harvest all of this rice!" Kenshin chuckled.
"Hai. It was good training." Soujirou smirked.
"Let Misao and I go and change out of these kimono into worker's clothes, like your own, and we'll be out here to join you." Kaoru said, not wanting to dirty such a fine piece of clothing, especially if it wasn't exactly hers.
"That's alright. Be back out in ten minutes, ne?" Soujirou asked, pondering how long it could possibly take for a woman to change into hakama and gi.. much less two women.
"Erm.. yea.." Misao laughed, the two girls turned their backs on the boys and walked down towards their rooms in the dojo.
"Here I am, sixteen, and I just don't understand women." Soujirou sighed.
"Don't feel badly.. I'm twenty-eight and I still don't." Kenshin noted. He blinked and was suddenly face-to-face with Kaoru.
"You're 28?!?!" She glared at him, disbelievingly.
"Hai." Kenshin nodded, a look of fear encroaching on his usual pallid features. "And you have very good hearing."
"There's no way!" Kaoru stated.
"Actually there is, I mean, you heard me from about half-way to the dojo.. that has to be about two hundred yards." Kenshin calculated.
"Not that, you idiot! You.. 28?!" Kaoru arched an eyebrow.
"Hai." Kenshin nodded, backing away and trying not to step in the rice field, his hands raised in defense.
"But... you don't look it." Kaoru said, her voice calming down a bit.
"You should always focus on the task at hand, not the results." Soujirou inserted.
"Eh?" Kaoru and Kenshin simultaneously asked, sweatdropping.
"Exactly. Kaoru- san, let's go and get dressed. Kenshin and Soujirou will explore around here a bit." Misao almost translated Soujirou's vague statement. For once, Kaoru simply found herself speechless and followed Misao into the dojo.
"I say again, I'll never understand women." Soujirou stated.
"And, in turn, they'll never be able to understand us." The rurouni mused. The two followed straight rows of grassy land, sharply contrasting the water-covered rice fields. "I'm into the whole farming idea, I just don't want to end up permanently stooped like all of those elderly farmers you see around here.."
"Chances of that are slim to none, that comes from an entire lifetime of farming." Soujirou explained.
"Oh."
"Besides, a student of Hiten Mitsuruugi wouldn't be permanently stooped by just the lowly act of farming." Soujirou grinned wider, once more.
"Oro?!?!" Kenshin chuckled, bewildered. "Is that fact plastered all over my face or something?"
"Plastered all over that scar." Soujirou nodded. "You precede yourself, so to speak."
"Ahh, Soujirou-dono has heard of me.. and my none-too-proudful history?"
"Hai. Imagine, running into the Hitokiri Battousai whilst traveling around.. It's every samurai's dream!"
"Do you intend to kill me or something?" Kenshin asked, puzzled by the young man's expression and demeanor.. was this kid plotting something?
"Iie.. I was just taught that a samurai should choose a side in battle." Soujirou smiled even wider, continuing their journey down the route of ground laying through a labyrinth of ponds. "These four fields here seem ready for harvest. There's really not much to it.. just pluck a few things out of the ground, hang them to dry on those stick-constructions over there. Leave them to dry for a few weeks, then prepare and preserve the grain as you will."
"I'll be sure to remember that. Now, in the mean-time.. what do you know of my past?" Kenshin asked, the most straightfoward that probably anyone currently in the dojo had ever seen him.
-~-~-~-~-~-
Kaoru and Misao had no luck in Misao's room looking for a pair of hakama. Whomever had possessed Misao's room previously did not particularly like hakama, it seemed. Thus, the girls were venturing into Kaoru's room for Japanese deep-slitted pants. It was an easy enough search. The closet had a small section of them in the back. Along with martial arts practice gi.
The girls donned matching navy-colored hakama, and tan-colored practice gi. They could have passed for sisters. This sparked an idea in Kaoru's head. "Misao-chan, do you have any family?"
"Ermm..." Misao was silent. She resumed the same rigidity as before, only moving to tie the hakama. "I can trust you not to tell anyone, ne, Kaoru?"
"Hai." Came the answer Misao desired..
"Someone might be searching for me. His name is Aoshi-sama."
"-sama?"
"Yea, he was the okashira of the Oniwabonshuu band of ninja. I belong to that particular band. But I haven't seen him in a while. He's the closest thing I would consider to family, since old man Okina died." Misao continued on, refusing to meet Kaoru's eyes, lest she should be met with questioning ones.
"Alright." Kaoru said, smiling. She finished tying her own hakama knots, made sure that her kimono was neatly put away, and then turned toward the younger girl. "You ready to go and get dirty?"
Although she didn't think that it was possible, Misao smiled. "Hai!"
Talking about traditional Japanese clothes and the boys that were currently standing over a stalk of green-looking rice (knee-deep in water), the girls continued their venture back into the fields.
"... That's all that's out in the public?" Kaoru heard Kenshin say in a hushed, hurried tone.
Soujirou emitted a small 'yes' before clamming up and the girls arrived.
"Kaoru-dono, I almost didn't recognize you dressed in men's clothing!" Kenshin laughed, and it afforded him a huge whelp and a long string of 'orororo..'.
"You bought that upon yourself, Kenshin." Misao laughed. She couldn't believe it. With these people that she barely knew, she was laughing. Who would have thought.. her, the bubbly-personalitied Misao would ever be laughing after what happened. It almost made her question if it really had happened.. Hadn't it?
Soujirou noted that he was suddenly feeling happier than usual as well. His talk with Kenshin had lightened his usually overly-happy mood and this young girl, Misao, was quite cute. Oh my! Was she looking at him just now? Was that a look of sorrow in her eyes? Or wonder? Oh my! He tried to speak, his voice uncharacteristically an octave higher. "Well, the best thing to do now is just get dirty." Oh my! Was she laughing at him now?
The respective people paired off, Kaoru and Kenshin picked one of the fields to the left to begin plucking stalks from the ground.. Misao and Soujirou picked one a field over.
As they plucked, Kenshin and Kaoru maintained a steady conversation of the controversy of allowing foreign people to enter Japan or not. 'Westernization' other countries were calling it, 'industrialization'.. Should Japan have that? Kaoru said that she didn't really care either way, if they allowed them in, traditions would be forgotten (most likely), but they would gain the benefit of technology.. then there was always complicated foreign politics. Kenshin agreed. They strung out a conversation like this, debating various political and religious topics, still plucking at mid-day.
Misao and Soujirou just plucked a stalked, looked at each other, then moved on to the next stalk. Not a word was spoken between them, their sideglances and furious blush would have spelled it out to anyone. But they weren't just anyone... they were the uberly-giddy Makimachi Misao and Seta Soujirou! They had to be juvenile!, at least, those were the thoughts running through Soujirou's mind. Continuing this adventure would prove to be tiring, Misao was thinking. But they were having enough trouble harvesting rice and trying to read each other's body language, let alone each other's mind.
At mid-day, the party stopped, with Kenshin and Kaoru (walking a little closer to each other than before, Misao noted) gesturing wildly to the still side-glancing-and-grinning teens to go back to the dojo and have dinner with them.
"It's one o'clock, let's go have lunch!" Screamed Kenshin's manic movements. Misao and Soujirou finally took the hint and they walked back (closer than before, Kaoru noted) with each other.
It was shaping up to be a rather weird day. So mystifying!
----------------------------------
Oi, this fic rocks my socks. ^^* This chapter really isn't anything–it's just leading up to more action, more WAFF, more K/K, and S/M. The next chapter will probably come shortly.. probably even before my other fic's next chapter does. X.x
Oh, and I raise the rating a bit, some of what happened in early chapters with Yahiko's body and such may be a bit gory for the little kiddies, ne? If you think it's better at PG, feel free to tell me.
TO THE REVIEWERS! ^^* Thanks! Many, many, many, many thanks! Reviews are quite inspiring. (Though, you do even help to point out some of those mistakes that I'm constantly making. [i.e – did I really put that they read left-to-right? I know that they read right-to-left, how could I even be thinking left-to-right? O.o])
Please review again, tsukino-chan loves reviews. ^^*
More coming soon!