Author's Note: Muwahahaha! Told ya I would get a chapter up at the end of this week! Thanks for the reviews people! And now you are rewarded with another chapter!

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Misao couldn't believe her luck. In a bad way, not a good way.

First, she had been kidnapped while she had been training with a blindfold over her eyes as she tried to use her other senses to fight. Obviously she ended up failing when Shishio's men snuck up behind her. She still put up a fight though, until one of them knocked her out. Even though she bruised them and even gave them some broken bones, Misao still wished that they were here right now so she can wrap her hands around their necks and wait until they could no longer breathe, the life draining from their eyes, and then-

Okay moving on.

Second, she had been taken to this place, which she found out was Shishio's lair. Third, her plans for escape ended up in failure and now she was moved to this room that was giving her a real headache thinking of a way out. Fourth, she now had Soujiro watching her. We're talking about Soujiro the Tenken here, the one that broke Himura's sword. This was going to make her plans for escape harder to think of. And finally, she had no idea why she was kidnapped in the first place!

"Hello Miss," greeted Soujiro, smiling as always. "I didn't know you were the prisoner."

"My name is Misao," the ninja replied, glaring at the Tenken. "And I won't be a prisoner for long! I'm getting out of here!"

"Oh?" Soujiro's eyes wandered around the room, wondering if Misao had found a way to escape this room. "Well how are you going to do that?"

Misao twitched in irritation, her hatred for this person growing. "First I'm going to kick your ass!"

Soujiro stopped looking around the room and his gaze went back to Misao. "And then?"

"Then I'm getting out of this room!"

"And then?"

"Then I'm getting out of mummy man's lair!"

"And then?"

"Shut up!"

Soujiro chuckled, amused by Misao's temper. Maybe this prisoner wasn't such a disappointment after all. Sure she wasn't as good of a fighter as him, but this made up for it.

"Are you getting out of my way?" asked Misao. "Or am I going to have to take you down?"

"You can try," replied Soujiro. "But you seem to be at a disadvantage. I have a weapon but you don't. So I'll make it easier for you. I won't use my sword."

"Fine. Whatever you want to make it easier for me to beat you."

"Now now." Soujiro wagged his finger at Misao. "You shouldn't say such things before a fight. I might end up winning little Misao."

Misao immediately fumed at the word "little". It was bad enough that he had maneuvered out of her little trap, smile the whole time and taunt her. But the whole "little" thing was going way too far.

"I am not little!" Misao shouted, before charging forward. She threw her first at his face, but only had him slap it away in response. She tried hitting him with a roundhouse kick, end ended up having Soujiro flip over the kick, and Misao herself.

"I'm over here little Misao," exclaimed Soujiro, tugging gently on her long braid. Obviously the smiling Tenken was having fun. He didn't remember the last time he enjoyed teasing and taunting his opponent this much.

Misao shrieked before brining up a foot and sending it behind her to try to hit Soujiro. Unfortunately for her, he caught her foot and held it, leaving the ninja girl one foot to stand on. Growling, Misao jumped with the use of her one foot and tried to do a spinning kick with said food to free her other one from Soujiro's grasp. She ended up succeeding and failing.

Succeeding because Soujiro let go of her foot. And failed because Soujiro grabbed and held onto her other foot, leaving poor Misao with one foot to stand on once again.

The Tenken found this humorous and laughed. Misao growled before trying another spin kick. Soujiro let go of the foot that he held before grabbing the one Misao was trying to kick him with once again. He laughed again.

"This isn't funny!" Misao shouted, trying to pull her foot out of Soujiro's grasp. "Let go!"

"Okay." And, as he said, he let go of her foot as Misao tried to pull her foot again at the same time Soujiro had let go. So she ended up stumbling, and inevitably fell on the floor.

"You are very funny Misao," Soujiro commented, smiling down at her.

"Shut up!" Misao stood up and rounded on Soujiro, green eyes ablaze. "And can you stop smiling!?"

"Can you stop yelling?"

Misao gritted her teeth and leapt forward, her fists and feet flying at the Tenken. Soujiro leapt, ducked, slapped, blocked and sidestepped away from Misao's blows. This went on for a few minutes, with Soujiro smiling the whole time and Misao's determination to wipe the said smile off his face growing.

It was then, when Soujiro grabbed her fist, did he maneuver behind Misao. He took her braid in one hand and then, with Misao's fist in his other hand, tied the braid around her wrist.

"Hey what are you doing!?" Hoping to stop Soujiro from making her right hand useless to her, she shot her left elbow backwards to hit him. That didn't turn out too good for Misao, because Soujiro dodged and then grabbed her left arm before brining it behind her and tying her braid around her left wrist. Misao struggled, but it was futile as Soujiro tied both her wrists behind her with her own braid.

Soujiro backed away from Misao and watched with amusement as the ninja girl struggled. She cursed and yelped in pain when she pulled too hard on her hair as she tried to free her hands.

"I think you had enough Misao," commented Soujiro, chuckling. The girl was very amusing. This was really making it up for her lack of fighting skills.

"I still have my legs," replied Misao. She ceased her struggles when she figured that she wasn't getting anywhere and turned to Soujiro. "I can still beat you!"

"Okay." Soujiro placed his arms behind his back. "I won't use my arms either."

Misao didn't relpy. Instead, she just sped forward. She tried to give Soujiro a kick to the shins, but was blocked by Soujiro's foot. Another kick, this one to the stomach, and Soujiro leapt back and raised his foot to block another kick from Misao.

In a way, this was like a dance. Everywhere Soujiro went, Misao would follow on the attack. Their feet would move this way and that. When Misao kicked low, Soujiro would block with one of his feet. When Misao kicked high, Soujiro would move away and she would follow to resume her attack on the smiling Tenken.

But this dance soon came to an end. When Misao tried to give Soujiro a boot to the face, he didn't retreat this time. Instead, he ducked and then shot his foot toward the foot that Misao was standing on. Misao cried out in surprise and fell to the floor on her back when Soujiro's foot connected with hers.

She immediately struggled to get back up. But before she could even try, Soujiro's foot was planted on her chest and pushed gently, but firmly, against her to keep her down on the floor. Misao looked up to find Soujiro standing over her, the smile have never left his face.

"I believe I win little Misao."

"I am not little," Misao growled. However, even she knew that she was beat.

Soujiro chuckled. Removing his foot from her, he kneeled down next to her. "Don't know how such a loudmouth like you can be so important to Shinomori."

"Aoshi?" Misao's eyes widened at the name of the former Okashira of the Oniwabanshu. If her hands weren't bound behind her and she wasn't on her back, she would've tackled the Tenken and shake him by his shoulders while demanding information on Aoshi. But since her hands were bound, and she was on her back, she settled with a loud, "Where's Aoshi!? What have you done with him!?"

"Let's not rush into things Misao," advised Soujiro, wagging a finger at her. "You're the one that's trapped here."

"Tell me where Aoshi is," said Misao, glaring at Soujiro.

"How about this? I'll untie you. And then if you promise not to attack or escape, I'll tell you all you want about Aoshi."

"Fine," replied Misao, wanting to know what happened to her Aoshi, but also because she really had no other choice.

Soujiro knelt down, helping Misao to a sitting position before his hands went behind her head to untie the braid from around her hands. But he suddenly stopped, and stared at her face. Raising an eyebrow, his face moved closer to hers as he examined her face.

"W-what are you doing?" asked Misao, her face reddening slightly when she noticed that Soujrio's face was only inches from hers. At first, Soujiro didn't reply, only examined her face.

Finally he spoke.

"Did anyone tell you that you looked like a weasel?"

He got a headbutt for that one.

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The room smelled like freshly cooked rice as Soujiro cooked. Having left Misao to think of what he had told her, Soujiro had went to the kitchen of Shishio's lair to cook some food. Ever since he had killed his target, Soujiro never had the chance to actually eat, and he was quite hungry. Not knowing if Misao was hungry as well, he had decided to cook some food for her as well.

What's the use of having her as a prisoner if she starves to death?

As Soujiro cooked, he couldn't help but think back to what had happened only a few minutes ago, when he had told Misao about Aoshi joining them. At first, Misao had listened closely, anticipation on her face for finally being able to hear what has happened to Aoshi. From what he could guess, she already knew the fates of the other members of the Oniwabanshu.

But, as he said those words, Misao's expression changed drastically. Her eyes widened in shock and her mouth fell open as she gasped. Soujiro just watched as her eyes turned glassy, tears starting to gather in them. Something.....happened to Soujiro as he watched her. He didn't know what, but for some reason he felt a strange, yet familiar, emotion while he watched Misao.

Pity? It was something Soujiro didn't remember experiencing before, and took him a while to find out the emotion. It was strange, why feel that emotion all of a sudden? He had never felt it before, or anything like it before. None that he could remember feeling anyway, even after he would kill someone.

For some reason, as he thought of why he would suddenly feel that emotion, his thoughts would always turn to the girl, Misao. Something was different about her. He didn't know what but there was something about the girl that seemed to be affecting Soujiro. He didn't know what, but it was on his to do list to figure it out.

'A funny girl,' thought Soujiro. 'But such a strange one too.'

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Misao lied on her futon, staring at the ceiling with thoughts running through her mind. Soujiro's words echoed again and again in her head.

'He's working for us now,' she thought, the words having been exactly what Soujiro had told her. She didn't want to believe it, couldn't believe it. The mystery of what happened to Aoshi had always haunted her mind as she tried to discover what happened to him.

Kaoru had told her about what happened to Hanya and the others, how they were killed by a certain drug lord with a gatling gun. But, when Misao asked her about Aoshi, she had said that he had disappeared. For years Misao had searched for Aoshi and the others, wanting to see them again. It devasted her that Hanya, Shikijou, Beshimi, and Hyottoko had been killed.

However, she still had hope for Aoshi. Unfortunately, now, she was starting to question her search for him. How could Aoshi, HER Aoshi, team up with the likes of Shishio? What the hell was going on!? She was kidnapped, and now she finds out that the one she had been searching for for so many years has become a bad guy. What else is next!?

'This isn't fair,' she thought to herself, tears brimming her eyes and threatening to spill down her face like they had when Soujiro had left. 'Why is this happening? What else can go wrong now?'

"Hello Misao."

'Oh great.'

Misao didn't bother to look to see who had entered. Raising a hand, she scrubbed at the tears that had started to escape her eyes. She did not like the idea of her enemy seeing her like this.

"What do you want now?" she asked harshly, staring at the ceiling.

"Just thought you were hungry," replied Soujiro, plopping down next to her with a tray of food in his hands. It didn't take long for the scent of the delicious food Soujiro had made to reach Misao's nostrils. Her stomach growled and her cheeks reddened slightly in embarrassment when she heard Soujiro chuckle.

"I'm not hungry," informed Misao.

"Your stomach seems to disagree with you Misao." Taking one of the bowls containing miso soup, Soujiro held it over Misao's face.

"I'm not hungry," Misao repeated, though the aroma from the soup was starting to convince her to eat.

"Okay then." Soujiro took the bowl away from Misao's face and placed it back on the tray. But instead of giving up, as Misao had started to think, she felt Soujiro start to poke her in the ribs. "Are you ticklish Misao?"

Misao tried hard to keep a straight face. She succeeded.....but only for a few seconds. Misao's straight face suddenly turned into a smile, then a giggle, then she started laughing as Soujiro started tickling her. Soujiro smiled as she saw her laughing.

Looking down at the tray he had put in front of him on the ground, he took one of the rice balls that were on the tray. Misao was busy laughing to notice. When she did notice, it was when Soujiro suddenly shoved the rice ball in her now open mouth.

Now that the tickling has stopped, Misao's once smiling face turned into one of anger as she glared at Soujiro, rice ball still in her mouth. Soujiro ignored it of course, and picked up his own bowl of miso soup. "You should start eating Misao. You don't want me to tickle you again do you?"

Misao only glared. Then, giving into hunger over pride, she took a bite from the rice ball in her mouth before pulling it out. Chewing on her first bite, she swallowed before taking another bite from it.

For some reason, Misao had a feeling she was going to have to get used to this because she was going to be here for a while.

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Author's Note: And there you go! Chapter is done! And unfortunately, you won't be seeing another chapter for a while. The reason for that is because I'm going to Massachusetts (I can't spell that). And, despite me not liking to travel, it might be fun. I mean, going some place far away where I can actually relax and not have to worry about anything. I just need to survive being in the same car with my brother and sister for a few hours. But I think it'll actually be fun ^^. See ya when I get back!