Author's Note: Doo doo doo. I might actually complete this fic. Only
about five more chapters left for this fic, more or less. And this chapter
is going to have Soujiro/Misao moments. So fans of the coupling rejoice!
Now let's get to the fic.
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Soujiro placed a wet cloth onto Misao's forehead. The ninja girl's face was flushed and she breathed heavily as she slept, sweat on her face. Taking a few herbs next to him, Soujiro placed them in a tea cup next to him.
It seemed that Misao was sick. Though it wasn't really a surprise. Having walked around in a maze with the injuries she had, it wasn't exactly hard for her to catch a sickness. Soujiro had known of the consequences of her actions, and mentally scolded himself for not having stopped Misao when he had found her in the maze.
'Seems I'm scolding myself a lot,' thought Soujiro. 'I better stop or I'll end up like Yumi.'
Though the Tenken found the thought amusing, it didn't last for long. Mistakes were something he wasn't used to making. But then again, he hadn't been given the assignment of guarding a prisoner. A pretty prisoner with sparkling green eyes and.....
Soujiro blinked. And, for the umpteenth time, scolded himself. Why was he having these thoughts all of a sudden? Then again, why were all these events happening all of a sudden?
Senkaku, these non-killing ideas, memories suddenly resurfacing, these headaches, and these emotions flooding through him. What was going on?
And it was at that very moment, did a puff of white smoke appear over his right shoulder.
Soujiro's hand was already on the hilt of his sword when the puff of smoke disappeared. A minute passed. Soujiro blinked.....and blinked again.
'I'm seeing things,' he thought to himself.
He was staring at.....himself. A miniature version of himself actually. This one wore a white toga, and held a harp in his hand. A halo hovered over this Soujiro's head and white feathery wings were attached to his back.
This was Angel Soujiro.
Soujiro did not need this. Sighing, he added "seeing imaginary people" into his list of strange events that have happened to him.
"Having trouble with that head of yours Soujiro?" asked Angel Soujiro.
Soujiro blinked yet again. Did this.....miniature him just speak? He now added "hearing imaginary people speak" to his list.
And that was when a small flame appeared on Soujiro's left shoulder.
Having thought his shoulder had somehow came on fire, he immediately patted down on his shoulder.
"Ow! Hey watch what you're doing!"
Soujiro froze. He removed his hand from his shoulder and could only stare at the SECOND miniature him that was now on his left shoulder.
"I get no respect," said the second miniature Soujiro, standing up and dusting himself off. This miniature Soujiro was different. He wore a tight red leather suit, had a trident instead of a harp, and instead of a halo he had devil like horns on the top of his head.
This was Devil Soujiro.
Soujiro stared at the Devil Soujiro. Then he turned to the Angel Soujiro, and repeated the process. This was something he didn't see everyday.
As he tried to think of something to say, Soujiro got nothing. For once, he was speechless.
"I think he died on us," said Devil Soujiro, poking his trident against Soujiro's face.
Angel Soujiro flapped his wings and hovered over Soujiro's face, waving his small hands in front of Soujiro. "Hey Soujiro!"
Now out of his speechless state, Soujiro suddenly pulled out his sword and pointed the tip of the blade at Angel Soujiro. "Who are you?" he asked. "Is this some sorcery?"
Angel Soujiro shook his head. Raising his harp, he slapped Soujiro's sword away from him. Soujiro stared before pointing his sword at Angel Soujiro again, only to have it knocked away again. The blade was pointed at Angel Soujiro once again, and it was slapped away by said shoulder angel.
'For a little guy he's pretty strong,' Soujiro thought.
"Even though I like the image of a blade being pointed at my counter part there, can we move on?" asked Devil Soujiro, leaning against his trident. He suddenly turned to the sleeping Misao. "Hey that's her?" He let out a low whistle as he patted Soujiro's shoulder. "Good catch there buddy. She's a keeper."
"What?" was all Soujiro was able to say. This was getting very confusing for our smiling Tenken here.
"Okay I'll explain," said Angel Soujiro. "Because of your emotions suddenly being released, you now have a shoulder angel and shoulder devil. On your left shoulder is your shoulder devil, he's your dark half. And I'm your shoulder angel, your light half. And we're here to help you solve your problems."
Soujiro only stared.
"The shoulder angels can never get to the point," grumbled Devil Soujiro. "To make it simple we're here to help you with Misao there."
"What about Misao?" asked Soujiro.
"Well duh. Why haven't you made a move on her!?"
"What!?" thundered Angel Soujiro.
"Dude!" continued Devil Soujiro. "She's asleep! This is your chance!"
Soujiro blinked, and took note that all he was doing lately was scolding himself and blinking. The Tenken looked at Misao. For once, Soujiro actually took notice of what Yumi had changed Misao into. It was just a simple kimono. Of course that's not what suddenly caught Soujiro's attention. The blanket over Misao had lowered, exposing her clothed upper half.
And he couldn't help but notice how the kimono seemed a bit.....loose there.
For some reason unknown to Soujiro, he suddenly felt his face suddenly grow hot. Wondering if he had somehow gotten sick, he held a hand to his own forehead.
"Aw come on!" spoke Devil Soujiro. "Just take a peek! She won't know!"
"No!" objected Angel Soujiro. "Bad! Bad bad bad!"
"What do you know you hormone challenged baka!?"
"Enough!" Soujiro ordered, silencing his shoulder angel and devil. Soujiro held a hand to his head, feeling another headache coming on. These things were happening to fast, he couldn't take it. "Listen, how do I make you two go away? Can you two just leave or something?"
"That'll do," answered Angel Soujiro, disappearing in a puff of white smoke.
"Spoiled sport," said Devil Soujiro before disappearing in a flame.
Soujiro sighed. His headache slowly started to recede, giving him some relief. He found himself looking down at the sleeping Misao once again. Shaking his head, he grabbed the blanket and pulled it back up over her chest.
This was definitely something that never happened to Soujiro. And something that he wished Shishio had prepared him for.
*************************************************************
Misao woke up to a major headache. Grimacing, she held a hand to her head. Instead of flesh though, she felt a wet cloth on her forehead. Her eyes opened and only found to have her vision blurry.
She shook her head, and immediately regretted it when her head started to spin. She groaned in pain and just stuck with lying on her futon.
"Awake?" asked a very familiar voice.
Misao turned her head to the voice. She had to blink a few times to clear her blurry vision. But, nonetheless, she soon saw the smiling face of the Tenken. "What's wrong with me?" she asked, her throat kind of dry when she spoke.
"Well it looks like you're sick Misao," said Soujiro. He took the wet cloth off of Misao's forehead and placed it back in the bowl of water. Now taking the tea pot, he poured some of the liquid into a cup. "You should drink some of this. It will probably help you get better."
Misao slowly tried to sit up, and ended up having to rely on Soujiro's hand on her back for support. He held the cup to her lips and she drank some of the liquid. Though as weak as she was, she still made a face at the bitter taste of it. She never did like medicine. She slowly drained the cup and Soujiro gently placed her back on the futon. The wet cloth was now back in Soujiro's hand and he placed it back on Misao's forehead.
"Did the oversized bacon tell you to take care of me?" asked Misao, once she was able to talk better.
Soujiro chose not to reply for a few seconds. "Shishio doesn't know you're sick," he answered.
Misao stared at him with surprise. "Why doesn't he know?"
"He wouldn't have cared."
"And you do?"
Soujiro, again, didn't reply just yet. Instead, he pondered Misao's question. Did he really care? He wasn't very sure.
Caring was something else he didn't understand much about. The only one he had cared about before was himself. Every cut he received, every bruise, every scar, he had no one to care for his wounds. He only had himself and no one else.
So instead of answering Misao's question, he did the opposite and said nothing. Misao had watched him, waiting for an answer. Not receiving one, Misao could only help but allow a small smile to form.
Guess the Tenken wasn't such a bad guy as she had originally thought.
There was silence after that, with Misao watching Soujiro. She tried to go to sleep, except she couldn't seem to close her eyes and stay that way long enough for her dreams to take her off somewhere.
A sudden hum caused Misao to open her eyes again. Turning back to Soujiro again, she saw that he was the one doing the humming.
"Where did you learn that tune?' she asked, wondering if Soujiro tried to think of tunes to hum during his spare time. Though, with his bizarre personality, it wasn't hard to believe.
"The tune came from my last target before I was assigned to guard you," he answered. "He was humming it before I killed him."
"Well that's.....nice."
Soujiro shrugged and continued to hum.
"What do you think about when you kill?"
Soujiro stopped his humming and looked back at Misao. No one had asked him a question like that before. He shrugged again and replied, "Things."
"What things?"
"Usually about hoping that the next victim won't be as weak as the other," replied Soujiro, causing Misao's face to fault as he smiled. "It's no fun when they're beaten easily."
"Figures. Is there anyone who you don't think is weak?"
"Shishio."
"Should've seen that one coming." Though Misao sighed, the sudden mention of Shishio suddenly caused a spark of curiosity in her. "What's so good about bacon man anyway? What did he ever do that made you do everything he asks for you?"
"When you don't have such confusing questions Misao, you only have easy ones," noted Soujiro. "He saved my life."
Misao was silent, muttering a small, "Oh."
"If it weren't for Shishio," continued Soujiro, "I wouldn't be as strong as I am now. In fact, I may have died ten years ago."
"Ten years ago?" repeated Misao, now even more curious. "What happened back then?"
Misao knew she had hit a sore spot when she saw the corners of Soujiro's lips start to go down instead of up. And if that wasn't enough, the Tenken didn't speak for ten minutes. Misao didn't pry during that time, not wanting to somehow make Soujiro go psycho on her like last time.
"Do you know your parents?" asked Soujiro.
Misao was caught of guard by the change of subject, but still answered. "I had known them when I was little. But that was a long time ago. I don't remember what they look even like anymore."
"You were lucky to at least have seen them, even if you don't remember them. I've never seen mine."
Misao was now sitting up on her futon, despite the slight dizziness she felt at doing the task. "Did you have any family?" she asked.
"You can say that," mused Soujiro. "They didn't exactly treat me like part of their family."
The ninja girl's eyes widened as the information sunk in. 'He said that Shishio saved his life,' she thought to herself. 'Was it his family that he was being saved from?' She hesitated, but out loud she asked, in a quiet voice, "What did they do?" In the back of her mind, she had a feeling she knew what happened. Actually, she didn't know exactly what they did to Soujiro.
She could only guess.
"It wasn't much. Just forced me to do all the labor, sleep outside at night, and get beaten even if I do the littlest task wrong."
Misao was right. She was only able to guess what they did to him. And now, it seemed that Soujiro's torture went farther then she had guessed.
Having been in a home with people that cared for her, Misao never experienced close to what Soujiro had experienced. Which was why Misao was having trouble grasping why people like Soujiro's "family", would do the things they did. And Soujiro said that he would've died ten years ago. 'Which means he was eight when that all happened to him,' thought Misao.
Misao felt a stab of pain in her heart. She was wrong about Soujiro, really wrong. She felt pity for him like last time.
"What about Shishio?" asked Misao, though a part of her really didn't want to know.
"A funny story actually," replied Soujiro.
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The eight year old Soujiro pulled on the rope, causing the bucket in the well to rise. Once he completed the task of getting the now water filled bucket up, he placed it down on the ground next to him. Taking a cloth that he had brought with him, the soon to be Tenken placed it in the bucket, soaking it. After making sure it was wet enough, he pressed the cloth against a bruise on his forehead.
Soujiro winced as the cloth touched the injury. This wasn't anything new. Every time he would be beaten, he would go out to take care of his injuries.
But today was going to be different.
There was a sudden clash of swords and a scream. Soujiro's eyes widened as he jumped. He moved the cloth away from his forehead and looked at where he heard the scream. It was a second later did another scream reach his young ears. Dropping the wet cloth, Soujiro ran forward to the voices.
Soujiro took a turn and now ran between two houses. He saw a shadow appear at the end of the alley, as a battle cry was issued. That battle cry soon turned to a death cry as the shadow disappeared, and a different one replaced it.
Soujiro stopped at the end of the alley between the houses. He poked his head out from the alley and looked to see what was happening. His young blue eyes widened as he watched the scene.
One of the men's back was turned to Soujiro. The young Tenken immediately took notice that the man was covered in bandages, and there were dead bodies on the ground around him. In front of him, stood another man, this one with an outfit of a police officer.
The outfit that the dead men wore.
Both the bandaged man and the policeman held swords, and seemed to be facing off against each other. The policeman raised his sword.....and had his arms sliced off by the bandaged man. Before the police officer had time to scream, he ended up sliced in half.
Soujiro felt his heart hammer in his chest. It took a few seconds for his brain to process the message that had been sent to it. Run. Soujiro took a step back.....and froze when he stepped on a twig.
The bandaged man seemed to have heard the snap of the twig. And, to Soujiro's horror, the man turned to face him.
"You saw me," he said, turning fully to face the eight year old. "Brat."
Soujiro took a few steps back, and stopped when he walked back into a house. He let himself slide to the ground, fear rooting him to it as he stared up at the man. The man had already started walking towards Soujiro, sword in hand.
"Because you've seen me," he spoke again, "I'll have to kill you."
Soujiro wasn't able to do anything. Fear seemed to control him now, as it seemed as if his limbs suddenly froze. The man now stood over Soujiro, and raised his sword. Though there was no sunlight, there was moonlight. And that light seemed to surround his sword in a bright aura.
But he didn't strike, not just yet. Instead, he only stared down at Soujiro, suddenly confused. "Would dying make you happy?"
"Huh?" Soujiro was able to say. "What?" It suddenly came to him that he was smiling, something he would do when he was being beaten. When he saw the man's sword coming down, he immediately closed his eyes, waiting for death to take him.
But it never came.
"Brat," the man suddenly spoke, causing Soujiro to open his eyes and look up at him. I'll let you live if you get me bandages and food."
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The man tightened the new bandages around him. "Good," he said. "Now I feel much better." There were three rice balls in front of him, food that Soujiro had said he would get.
"Excuse me, old man?" the said young boy spoke, hiding behind some rice barrels away from the man.
"Huh?" The man turned to where Soujiro was hiding, who immediately ducked behind the barrels when he had been seen. "I'm not old and I have a name. Makoto Shishio. That's my name."
Soujiro slowly appeared from the barrels, and stared at Shishio. Shishio had already taken one of the riceballs and bit into it. Soujiro watched him. But that was when his curiosity kicked in.
"Ex.....excuse me, Shishio?" he timidly asked.
"Yeah?"
"Well.....I.....um.....Shishio, you killed those police officers.....so.....are you a bad person?"
"The Meiji government are the bad ones," replied Shishio, taking a second riceball after finishing the first. "They used me as they saw fit. After that they tried to burn me to death."
"So you're a good person?" asked Soujiro hopefully, now smiling.
"No." Shishio turned to Soujiro. "I'm a sadistic killer."
Soujiro did a face fault, and quickly ran to some rice barrels farther away before hiding behind them, suddenly shaking in fear.
"Don't run, don't run," said Shishio. "I already said I wouldn't kill you."
Soujiro was put slightly at ease, though he didn't move forward. He still stayed behind the rice barrels.
"I kind of like this place," continued Shishio, taking the final riceball. "They won't find me unless you tell them." He made quick work of the riceball before standing up and moving to another stack of rice barrels and lying against it, putting his hands behind his head. "I'm gonna stay a while."
'I think that man is a bad person,' thought Soujiro, staring at the now sleeping Shishio. 'But.....' The image of the policeman being sliced in two by Shishio appeared in his mind. 'He's a very strong bad person.'
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"I still have the sword Shishio had given me," Soujiro said to Misao, who had been silent so far during his story telling. "I've treasured it for ten long years."
"What about your family?" questioned Misao. "Did they ever find out?" She immediately scolded herself. Of course they found out!
"It was inevitable."
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The grandmother of Soujiro's so called family walked through the house, looking for something. Stopping at a door, she opened it up to find the two brothers and the father in a room. The older brother (Truthfully I don't know if he's the older one) was busy sharpening his sword, with the younger smoking and the father drinking.
"Hey you guys," the grandmother spoke. "You know where the bandages are?"
"Huh?" asked the older brother. "How should we know?"
"It's strange. I wonder where they all went. I know Soujiro's been stealing rice out of the warehouse to eat. But the bandages?"
"We kick his ass so much he might have used them all," said the younger brother, grinning at the memory of Soujiro being beaten."
"Even so, every bandage in the house is gone," spoke the grandmother again. He couldn't use them all."
The older brother had suddenly became deep in thought as he cleaned his sword. He stopped in his cleaning before looking up at his father. "Hey father, didn't the assassin have burns all over his body?"
"What about it?" asked the father, as him and the younger brother looked at him.
The thought suddenly struck home.
"Soujiro," growled the father. "You bastard."
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Shishio sat on the barrels of rice, staring at nothing in particular. Out the window of the warehouse, dark clouds formed in the sky. Shishio suddenly sat up, and looked down at his bandaged hands.
"My burns are throbbing with pain," he said to himself. He held one of them to his forehead as he took a glance back to see the gathering storm. "A storm is coming."
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Soujiro rubbed his cold feet together as he sat upon a pile of logs. A blanket was draped over him, but that wasn't enough to block the unusual cold night. He held his hands to his mouth and breathed hot air onto them. He paused to look down at his hands, that had been blistered from all the barrels of rice he had to move.
"I guess," he suddenly spoke, "it must be really painful to be cut by a sword." He held a hand to his face from where he got hit from the father during the beating, when the brothers had ruined a barrel of rice and blamed it on him. "When I get punched by a fist, it hurts so much. So I'm sure....."
Soujiro trailed off and stared forward, lost in thought as the wind blew his brown hair.
"I'm gonna give him back that sword." Of course, the him Soujiro was referring to was Shishio. Having been given the wakizashi as a rent, Soujiro had immediately hid it under one of the houses. Standing up from his sitting position, letting the blanket drop from his shoulders, he looked up at the darkening sky.
"I'll never be strong like Shishio." He started walking forward. "I'm weak, but it doesn't really bother me."
"Soujiro! Where are you Soujiro!?"
Soujiro stopped, hearing the voice of the older brother. He turned to where he heard the voice. Making an about face, Soujiro walked that way.
"What's happening this late at night?"
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Lightning started to clash and thunder boomed as Soujiro stared with surprise and confusion. Standing before him, his family stood before him.
And they looked angry.
"Soujiro!" the older brother growled, glaring hatefully at him. "How dare you lie to me damn it!"
Soujiro felt the pain of the older brother's sword colliding with the side of his face. Fortunately, the sword had been sheathed, and all that the blow did to Soujiro was knock him down to the ground.
"Soujiro!" shouted the father. "How can you betray the government by helping a killer!?" He held up his own sheathed blade. "Bastard! You want me to lose my rice business!?" Raising the sword, him and the older brother did the dirty work of landing blows on the helpless Soujiro. "I'll never let you do that! Tell me! Where is the assassin!?"
Soujiro wasn't able to do anything except let the blows land on his fallen form. New bruises formed, and old cuts reopened to join new ones. By the time the beating was done, Soujiro was coughing up blood as he lied on the ground, his body sore and in pain.
"You god damn brat!" shouted the older brother, bring up his sheathed sword again. "I can't stand you anymore!" Instead of giving Soujiro another hit, all he did was unsheathe his sword. "I'll kill you myself!"
Soujiro's eyes were now wide, and he turned fearful eyes on the now unsheathed sword.
"Hey hey," the sister suddenly spoke. "Not here brother. What if somebody hears him?"
"No, it'd be okay," assured the younger brother. "Don't worry. There's a wanted assassin hiding around here. If this little bastard was murdered, who'd think twice about it? Everything would be fine. Just call the cops after we kill him. That's all."
"Yeah, why not!?" asked the sister excitedly. "We might get some kind of reward from the government! Because we've helped the investigation!"
"I won't let you destroy my rice company!" the father continued to shout at Soujiro.
"We feed you and put clothes on your back," the grandmother spoke hatefully at Soujiro. "Then you try to bring our business down."
"Kill him brother," urged the younger brother.
"Yeah, I'll kill him," said the older.
Soujiro didn't hear anymore. He only stared at them, fear getting a tight grip around his heart. The words that they spoken repeated in his mind over and over again. In the end, only one thought echoed within his mind.
If you're strong, you survive. If you're weak.....
Soujiro suddenly screamed in terror. They were going to kill him! Now on his feet, he quickly ran. He didn't know where, he just wanted to get away from them.
He just wanted to live!
"Try and run!" shouted the older brother, running after Soujiro.
"Cut him down!" said the father, following the older brother.
Soujiro ran, the fear of being killed pushing him forward. "Help me!" he cried. "Anybody please! Anyone! Anyone! Somebody help me!"
But no one was going to help him. He was alone.
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"He disappeared?" wondered the older brother, as him and the father stopped in front of a house.
"Shit!" cursed the father. "Where'd he go?"
The younger brother came up behind them. He suddenly saw something at the corner of his eye and turned around.
Footprints, leading under the house.
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Soujiro clutched the wakizashi Shishio had given him. He gasped loudly, hearing his own heart pound as it hammered against his chest. His eyes were wide, filled with fear.
"They're gonna kill me," he gasped, clutching the sword tightly as he closed his eyes, and calling out to the only person he knew that could possibly help him. "Help me Shishio!"
But it wasn't Shishio's voice that Soujiro heard next.
"Found you!"
Soujiro's eyes were opened wide again. He turned and saw the younger brother had found him, and was now crawling towards the scared Soujiro.
"Such a good place to hide," said the younger brother.
Soujiro moved back, and all he could do was hold the sheathed sword between him and the brother. The brother paused in his crawling and just stared at the sword.
"Huh? The small sword looks expensive." He the resumed crawling forward. "Did you steal it from the rice warehouse? Give it here." Now close enough, the brother raised a hand and let it move towards the sword.
'The world is a survival of the fittest,' Soujiro suddenly heard Shishio voice in his mind. And Soujiro couldn't help as his own thoughts echoed with Shishio's words.
The younger brother grabbed the sheath sword, and slowly tugged on the sheath, slowly revealing the blade.
'The strong survive,' Soujiro thought, as memories of the fight between Shishio and the policeman went through his mind again.
The younger brother finished pulling the sheath, and the whole blade now revealed itself.
'The weak.....'
*************************************************************
A scream tore through the night and the rest of the family now stood in front of the house that the younger brother had went under, saying that he found Soujiro.
"I guess he's dead," spoke the father.
"What a cowardly scream," noted the sister.
"That shows in his breeding," put in the grandmother.
A body suddenly appeared from under the house and lied a few yards away from the family, who immediately turned to see it.
"He came out?" questioned the grandmother.
Lightning clashed.....and the sister and grandmother screamed as the light showed that the body wasn't Soujiro's.
It was the younger brother's.
"Ya.....Yanosuke!" cried the older brother.
There was another sound, this one coming from behind the family. They immediately turned around, and saw Soujiro appear from under the house. The now bloodstained sword of the wakizashi was held in his hand, as he let his bangs hide his eyes.
"The world will always be a survival of the fittest," Soujiro said quietly. "Strong survive.....and....."
"You brat!" shouted the older brother, charging at Soujiro.
"I'll kill you!" joined the father, who also charged.
"The weak....." Soujiro turned towards the charging brother and father, revealing the smile on his face and the emotions having disappeared from his eyes.
Another lightning bolt sliced through the night sky. Soujiro screamed once again as he killed the family that had wanted to kill him.
Every.....last.....one.
*************************************************************
Soujiro was now silent. Though he had spoken the darkest parts of his past, he still smiled. But, as he turned to Misao, he suddenly had confusion written on his face.
The ninja girl was staring at him with wide eyes. And Soujiro could only stare at her, watching as different emotions went through her green eyes.
Emotions weren't the only things that came from her eyes.
"Are you crying?" questioned Soujiro, tilting his head to the side as he saw a droplet of water slid down Misao's face.
Misao didn't speak. Actually, she didn't speak for quite some time. Soujiro continued to stare at her questioningly, wondering if Misao's sickness had suddenly started taking effect on her again.
He suddenly blinked in surprise when Misao's arms suddenly wrapped around his neck as she hugged him. For once, Soujiro wasn't sure what to do, or even say.
Whether it was some unconscious part of his mind, he didn't know. But what Soujiro found himself doing was hugging the girl back.
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Author's Note: Dddaaammmnnn! This was a hell of a long chapter. Kind of freaky too. Well, once again you have the episodes I downloaded to thank for this chapter. And even better, more moments of Soujiro/Misao. Hoped you like this chapter. And I better get reviews for this, because this is probably the longest chapter of this fic.
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Soujiro placed a wet cloth onto Misao's forehead. The ninja girl's face was flushed and she breathed heavily as she slept, sweat on her face. Taking a few herbs next to him, Soujiro placed them in a tea cup next to him.
It seemed that Misao was sick. Though it wasn't really a surprise. Having walked around in a maze with the injuries she had, it wasn't exactly hard for her to catch a sickness. Soujiro had known of the consequences of her actions, and mentally scolded himself for not having stopped Misao when he had found her in the maze.
'Seems I'm scolding myself a lot,' thought Soujiro. 'I better stop or I'll end up like Yumi.'
Though the Tenken found the thought amusing, it didn't last for long. Mistakes were something he wasn't used to making. But then again, he hadn't been given the assignment of guarding a prisoner. A pretty prisoner with sparkling green eyes and.....
Soujiro blinked. And, for the umpteenth time, scolded himself. Why was he having these thoughts all of a sudden? Then again, why were all these events happening all of a sudden?
Senkaku, these non-killing ideas, memories suddenly resurfacing, these headaches, and these emotions flooding through him. What was going on?
And it was at that very moment, did a puff of white smoke appear over his right shoulder.
Soujiro's hand was already on the hilt of his sword when the puff of smoke disappeared. A minute passed. Soujiro blinked.....and blinked again.
'I'm seeing things,' he thought to himself.
He was staring at.....himself. A miniature version of himself actually. This one wore a white toga, and held a harp in his hand. A halo hovered over this Soujiro's head and white feathery wings were attached to his back.
This was Angel Soujiro.
Soujiro did not need this. Sighing, he added "seeing imaginary people" into his list of strange events that have happened to him.
"Having trouble with that head of yours Soujiro?" asked Angel Soujiro.
Soujiro blinked yet again. Did this.....miniature him just speak? He now added "hearing imaginary people speak" to his list.
And that was when a small flame appeared on Soujiro's left shoulder.
Having thought his shoulder had somehow came on fire, he immediately patted down on his shoulder.
"Ow! Hey watch what you're doing!"
Soujiro froze. He removed his hand from his shoulder and could only stare at the SECOND miniature him that was now on his left shoulder.
"I get no respect," said the second miniature Soujiro, standing up and dusting himself off. This miniature Soujiro was different. He wore a tight red leather suit, had a trident instead of a harp, and instead of a halo he had devil like horns on the top of his head.
This was Devil Soujiro.
Soujiro stared at the Devil Soujiro. Then he turned to the Angel Soujiro, and repeated the process. This was something he didn't see everyday.
As he tried to think of something to say, Soujiro got nothing. For once, he was speechless.
"I think he died on us," said Devil Soujiro, poking his trident against Soujiro's face.
Angel Soujiro flapped his wings and hovered over Soujiro's face, waving his small hands in front of Soujiro. "Hey Soujiro!"
Now out of his speechless state, Soujiro suddenly pulled out his sword and pointed the tip of the blade at Angel Soujiro. "Who are you?" he asked. "Is this some sorcery?"
Angel Soujiro shook his head. Raising his harp, he slapped Soujiro's sword away from him. Soujiro stared before pointing his sword at Angel Soujiro again, only to have it knocked away again. The blade was pointed at Angel Soujiro once again, and it was slapped away by said shoulder angel.
'For a little guy he's pretty strong,' Soujiro thought.
"Even though I like the image of a blade being pointed at my counter part there, can we move on?" asked Devil Soujiro, leaning against his trident. He suddenly turned to the sleeping Misao. "Hey that's her?" He let out a low whistle as he patted Soujiro's shoulder. "Good catch there buddy. She's a keeper."
"What?" was all Soujiro was able to say. This was getting very confusing for our smiling Tenken here.
"Okay I'll explain," said Angel Soujiro. "Because of your emotions suddenly being released, you now have a shoulder angel and shoulder devil. On your left shoulder is your shoulder devil, he's your dark half. And I'm your shoulder angel, your light half. And we're here to help you solve your problems."
Soujiro only stared.
"The shoulder angels can never get to the point," grumbled Devil Soujiro. "To make it simple we're here to help you with Misao there."
"What about Misao?" asked Soujiro.
"Well duh. Why haven't you made a move on her!?"
"What!?" thundered Angel Soujiro.
"Dude!" continued Devil Soujiro. "She's asleep! This is your chance!"
Soujiro blinked, and took note that all he was doing lately was scolding himself and blinking. The Tenken looked at Misao. For once, Soujiro actually took notice of what Yumi had changed Misao into. It was just a simple kimono. Of course that's not what suddenly caught Soujiro's attention. The blanket over Misao had lowered, exposing her clothed upper half.
And he couldn't help but notice how the kimono seemed a bit.....loose there.
For some reason unknown to Soujiro, he suddenly felt his face suddenly grow hot. Wondering if he had somehow gotten sick, he held a hand to his own forehead.
"Aw come on!" spoke Devil Soujiro. "Just take a peek! She won't know!"
"No!" objected Angel Soujiro. "Bad! Bad bad bad!"
"What do you know you hormone challenged baka!?"
"Enough!" Soujiro ordered, silencing his shoulder angel and devil. Soujiro held a hand to his head, feeling another headache coming on. These things were happening to fast, he couldn't take it. "Listen, how do I make you two go away? Can you two just leave or something?"
"That'll do," answered Angel Soujiro, disappearing in a puff of white smoke.
"Spoiled sport," said Devil Soujiro before disappearing in a flame.
Soujiro sighed. His headache slowly started to recede, giving him some relief. He found himself looking down at the sleeping Misao once again. Shaking his head, he grabbed the blanket and pulled it back up over her chest.
This was definitely something that never happened to Soujiro. And something that he wished Shishio had prepared him for.
*************************************************************
Misao woke up to a major headache. Grimacing, she held a hand to her head. Instead of flesh though, she felt a wet cloth on her forehead. Her eyes opened and only found to have her vision blurry.
She shook her head, and immediately regretted it when her head started to spin. She groaned in pain and just stuck with lying on her futon.
"Awake?" asked a very familiar voice.
Misao turned her head to the voice. She had to blink a few times to clear her blurry vision. But, nonetheless, she soon saw the smiling face of the Tenken. "What's wrong with me?" she asked, her throat kind of dry when she spoke.
"Well it looks like you're sick Misao," said Soujiro. He took the wet cloth off of Misao's forehead and placed it back in the bowl of water. Now taking the tea pot, he poured some of the liquid into a cup. "You should drink some of this. It will probably help you get better."
Misao slowly tried to sit up, and ended up having to rely on Soujiro's hand on her back for support. He held the cup to her lips and she drank some of the liquid. Though as weak as she was, she still made a face at the bitter taste of it. She never did like medicine. She slowly drained the cup and Soujiro gently placed her back on the futon. The wet cloth was now back in Soujiro's hand and he placed it back on Misao's forehead.
"Did the oversized bacon tell you to take care of me?" asked Misao, once she was able to talk better.
Soujiro chose not to reply for a few seconds. "Shishio doesn't know you're sick," he answered.
Misao stared at him with surprise. "Why doesn't he know?"
"He wouldn't have cared."
"And you do?"
Soujiro, again, didn't reply just yet. Instead, he pondered Misao's question. Did he really care? He wasn't very sure.
Caring was something else he didn't understand much about. The only one he had cared about before was himself. Every cut he received, every bruise, every scar, he had no one to care for his wounds. He only had himself and no one else.
So instead of answering Misao's question, he did the opposite and said nothing. Misao had watched him, waiting for an answer. Not receiving one, Misao could only help but allow a small smile to form.
Guess the Tenken wasn't such a bad guy as she had originally thought.
There was silence after that, with Misao watching Soujiro. She tried to go to sleep, except she couldn't seem to close her eyes and stay that way long enough for her dreams to take her off somewhere.
A sudden hum caused Misao to open her eyes again. Turning back to Soujiro again, she saw that he was the one doing the humming.
"Where did you learn that tune?' she asked, wondering if Soujiro tried to think of tunes to hum during his spare time. Though, with his bizarre personality, it wasn't hard to believe.
"The tune came from my last target before I was assigned to guard you," he answered. "He was humming it before I killed him."
"Well that's.....nice."
Soujiro shrugged and continued to hum.
"What do you think about when you kill?"
Soujiro stopped his humming and looked back at Misao. No one had asked him a question like that before. He shrugged again and replied, "Things."
"What things?"
"Usually about hoping that the next victim won't be as weak as the other," replied Soujiro, causing Misao's face to fault as he smiled. "It's no fun when they're beaten easily."
"Figures. Is there anyone who you don't think is weak?"
"Shishio."
"Should've seen that one coming." Though Misao sighed, the sudden mention of Shishio suddenly caused a spark of curiosity in her. "What's so good about bacon man anyway? What did he ever do that made you do everything he asks for you?"
"When you don't have such confusing questions Misao, you only have easy ones," noted Soujiro. "He saved my life."
Misao was silent, muttering a small, "Oh."
"If it weren't for Shishio," continued Soujiro, "I wouldn't be as strong as I am now. In fact, I may have died ten years ago."
"Ten years ago?" repeated Misao, now even more curious. "What happened back then?"
Misao knew she had hit a sore spot when she saw the corners of Soujiro's lips start to go down instead of up. And if that wasn't enough, the Tenken didn't speak for ten minutes. Misao didn't pry during that time, not wanting to somehow make Soujiro go psycho on her like last time.
"Do you know your parents?" asked Soujiro.
Misao was caught of guard by the change of subject, but still answered. "I had known them when I was little. But that was a long time ago. I don't remember what they look even like anymore."
"You were lucky to at least have seen them, even if you don't remember them. I've never seen mine."
Misao was now sitting up on her futon, despite the slight dizziness she felt at doing the task. "Did you have any family?" she asked.
"You can say that," mused Soujiro. "They didn't exactly treat me like part of their family."
The ninja girl's eyes widened as the information sunk in. 'He said that Shishio saved his life,' she thought to herself. 'Was it his family that he was being saved from?' She hesitated, but out loud she asked, in a quiet voice, "What did they do?" In the back of her mind, she had a feeling she knew what happened. Actually, she didn't know exactly what they did to Soujiro.
She could only guess.
"It wasn't much. Just forced me to do all the labor, sleep outside at night, and get beaten even if I do the littlest task wrong."
Misao was right. She was only able to guess what they did to him. And now, it seemed that Soujiro's torture went farther then she had guessed.
Having been in a home with people that cared for her, Misao never experienced close to what Soujiro had experienced. Which was why Misao was having trouble grasping why people like Soujiro's "family", would do the things they did. And Soujiro said that he would've died ten years ago. 'Which means he was eight when that all happened to him,' thought Misao.
Misao felt a stab of pain in her heart. She was wrong about Soujiro, really wrong. She felt pity for him like last time.
"What about Shishio?" asked Misao, though a part of her really didn't want to know.
"A funny story actually," replied Soujiro.
*************************************************************
The eight year old Soujiro pulled on the rope, causing the bucket in the well to rise. Once he completed the task of getting the now water filled bucket up, he placed it down on the ground next to him. Taking a cloth that he had brought with him, the soon to be Tenken placed it in the bucket, soaking it. After making sure it was wet enough, he pressed the cloth against a bruise on his forehead.
Soujiro winced as the cloth touched the injury. This wasn't anything new. Every time he would be beaten, he would go out to take care of his injuries.
But today was going to be different.
There was a sudden clash of swords and a scream. Soujiro's eyes widened as he jumped. He moved the cloth away from his forehead and looked at where he heard the scream. It was a second later did another scream reach his young ears. Dropping the wet cloth, Soujiro ran forward to the voices.
Soujiro took a turn and now ran between two houses. He saw a shadow appear at the end of the alley, as a battle cry was issued. That battle cry soon turned to a death cry as the shadow disappeared, and a different one replaced it.
Soujiro stopped at the end of the alley between the houses. He poked his head out from the alley and looked to see what was happening. His young blue eyes widened as he watched the scene.
One of the men's back was turned to Soujiro. The young Tenken immediately took notice that the man was covered in bandages, and there were dead bodies on the ground around him. In front of him, stood another man, this one with an outfit of a police officer.
The outfit that the dead men wore.
Both the bandaged man and the policeman held swords, and seemed to be facing off against each other. The policeman raised his sword.....and had his arms sliced off by the bandaged man. Before the police officer had time to scream, he ended up sliced in half.
Soujiro felt his heart hammer in his chest. It took a few seconds for his brain to process the message that had been sent to it. Run. Soujiro took a step back.....and froze when he stepped on a twig.
The bandaged man seemed to have heard the snap of the twig. And, to Soujiro's horror, the man turned to face him.
"You saw me," he said, turning fully to face the eight year old. "Brat."
Soujiro took a few steps back, and stopped when he walked back into a house. He let himself slide to the ground, fear rooting him to it as he stared up at the man. The man had already started walking towards Soujiro, sword in hand.
"Because you've seen me," he spoke again, "I'll have to kill you."
Soujiro wasn't able to do anything. Fear seemed to control him now, as it seemed as if his limbs suddenly froze. The man now stood over Soujiro, and raised his sword. Though there was no sunlight, there was moonlight. And that light seemed to surround his sword in a bright aura.
But he didn't strike, not just yet. Instead, he only stared down at Soujiro, suddenly confused. "Would dying make you happy?"
"Huh?" Soujiro was able to say. "What?" It suddenly came to him that he was smiling, something he would do when he was being beaten. When he saw the man's sword coming down, he immediately closed his eyes, waiting for death to take him.
But it never came.
"Brat," the man suddenly spoke, causing Soujiro to open his eyes and look up at him. I'll let you live if you get me bandages and food."
*************************************************************
The man tightened the new bandages around him. "Good," he said. "Now I feel much better." There were three rice balls in front of him, food that Soujiro had said he would get.
"Excuse me, old man?" the said young boy spoke, hiding behind some rice barrels away from the man.
"Huh?" The man turned to where Soujiro was hiding, who immediately ducked behind the barrels when he had been seen. "I'm not old and I have a name. Makoto Shishio. That's my name."
Soujiro slowly appeared from the barrels, and stared at Shishio. Shishio had already taken one of the riceballs and bit into it. Soujiro watched him. But that was when his curiosity kicked in.
"Ex.....excuse me, Shishio?" he timidly asked.
"Yeah?"
"Well.....I.....um.....Shishio, you killed those police officers.....so.....are you a bad person?"
"The Meiji government are the bad ones," replied Shishio, taking a second riceball after finishing the first. "They used me as they saw fit. After that they tried to burn me to death."
"So you're a good person?" asked Soujiro hopefully, now smiling.
"No." Shishio turned to Soujiro. "I'm a sadistic killer."
Soujiro did a face fault, and quickly ran to some rice barrels farther away before hiding behind them, suddenly shaking in fear.
"Don't run, don't run," said Shishio. "I already said I wouldn't kill you."
Soujiro was put slightly at ease, though he didn't move forward. He still stayed behind the rice barrels.
"I kind of like this place," continued Shishio, taking the final riceball. "They won't find me unless you tell them." He made quick work of the riceball before standing up and moving to another stack of rice barrels and lying against it, putting his hands behind his head. "I'm gonna stay a while."
'I think that man is a bad person,' thought Soujiro, staring at the now sleeping Shishio. 'But.....' The image of the policeman being sliced in two by Shishio appeared in his mind. 'He's a very strong bad person.'
*************************************************************
"I still have the sword Shishio had given me," Soujiro said to Misao, who had been silent so far during his story telling. "I've treasured it for ten long years."
"What about your family?" questioned Misao. "Did they ever find out?" She immediately scolded herself. Of course they found out!
"It was inevitable."
*************************************************************
The grandmother of Soujiro's so called family walked through the house, looking for something. Stopping at a door, she opened it up to find the two brothers and the father in a room. The older brother (Truthfully I don't know if he's the older one) was busy sharpening his sword, with the younger smoking and the father drinking.
"Hey you guys," the grandmother spoke. "You know where the bandages are?"
"Huh?" asked the older brother. "How should we know?"
"It's strange. I wonder where they all went. I know Soujiro's been stealing rice out of the warehouse to eat. But the bandages?"
"We kick his ass so much he might have used them all," said the younger brother, grinning at the memory of Soujiro being beaten."
"Even so, every bandage in the house is gone," spoke the grandmother again. He couldn't use them all."
The older brother had suddenly became deep in thought as he cleaned his sword. He stopped in his cleaning before looking up at his father. "Hey father, didn't the assassin have burns all over his body?"
"What about it?" asked the father, as him and the younger brother looked at him.
The thought suddenly struck home.
"Soujiro," growled the father. "You bastard."
*************************************************************
Shishio sat on the barrels of rice, staring at nothing in particular. Out the window of the warehouse, dark clouds formed in the sky. Shishio suddenly sat up, and looked down at his bandaged hands.
"My burns are throbbing with pain," he said to himself. He held one of them to his forehead as he took a glance back to see the gathering storm. "A storm is coming."
*************************************************************
Soujiro rubbed his cold feet together as he sat upon a pile of logs. A blanket was draped over him, but that wasn't enough to block the unusual cold night. He held his hands to his mouth and breathed hot air onto them. He paused to look down at his hands, that had been blistered from all the barrels of rice he had to move.
"I guess," he suddenly spoke, "it must be really painful to be cut by a sword." He held a hand to his face from where he got hit from the father during the beating, when the brothers had ruined a barrel of rice and blamed it on him. "When I get punched by a fist, it hurts so much. So I'm sure....."
Soujiro trailed off and stared forward, lost in thought as the wind blew his brown hair.
"I'm gonna give him back that sword." Of course, the him Soujiro was referring to was Shishio. Having been given the wakizashi as a rent, Soujiro had immediately hid it under one of the houses. Standing up from his sitting position, letting the blanket drop from his shoulders, he looked up at the darkening sky.
"I'll never be strong like Shishio." He started walking forward. "I'm weak, but it doesn't really bother me."
"Soujiro! Where are you Soujiro!?"
Soujiro stopped, hearing the voice of the older brother. He turned to where he heard the voice. Making an about face, Soujiro walked that way.
"What's happening this late at night?"
*************************************************************
Lightning started to clash and thunder boomed as Soujiro stared with surprise and confusion. Standing before him, his family stood before him.
And they looked angry.
"Soujiro!" the older brother growled, glaring hatefully at him. "How dare you lie to me damn it!"
Soujiro felt the pain of the older brother's sword colliding with the side of his face. Fortunately, the sword had been sheathed, and all that the blow did to Soujiro was knock him down to the ground.
"Soujiro!" shouted the father. "How can you betray the government by helping a killer!?" He held up his own sheathed blade. "Bastard! You want me to lose my rice business!?" Raising the sword, him and the older brother did the dirty work of landing blows on the helpless Soujiro. "I'll never let you do that! Tell me! Where is the assassin!?"
Soujiro wasn't able to do anything except let the blows land on his fallen form. New bruises formed, and old cuts reopened to join new ones. By the time the beating was done, Soujiro was coughing up blood as he lied on the ground, his body sore and in pain.
"You god damn brat!" shouted the older brother, bring up his sheathed sword again. "I can't stand you anymore!" Instead of giving Soujiro another hit, all he did was unsheathe his sword. "I'll kill you myself!"
Soujiro's eyes were now wide, and he turned fearful eyes on the now unsheathed sword.
"Hey hey," the sister suddenly spoke. "Not here brother. What if somebody hears him?"
"No, it'd be okay," assured the younger brother. "Don't worry. There's a wanted assassin hiding around here. If this little bastard was murdered, who'd think twice about it? Everything would be fine. Just call the cops after we kill him. That's all."
"Yeah, why not!?" asked the sister excitedly. "We might get some kind of reward from the government! Because we've helped the investigation!"
"I won't let you destroy my rice company!" the father continued to shout at Soujiro.
"We feed you and put clothes on your back," the grandmother spoke hatefully at Soujiro. "Then you try to bring our business down."
"Kill him brother," urged the younger brother.
"Yeah, I'll kill him," said the older.
Soujiro didn't hear anymore. He only stared at them, fear getting a tight grip around his heart. The words that they spoken repeated in his mind over and over again. In the end, only one thought echoed within his mind.
If you're strong, you survive. If you're weak.....
Soujiro suddenly screamed in terror. They were going to kill him! Now on his feet, he quickly ran. He didn't know where, he just wanted to get away from them.
He just wanted to live!
"Try and run!" shouted the older brother, running after Soujiro.
"Cut him down!" said the father, following the older brother.
Soujiro ran, the fear of being killed pushing him forward. "Help me!" he cried. "Anybody please! Anyone! Anyone! Somebody help me!"
But no one was going to help him. He was alone.
*************************************************************
"He disappeared?" wondered the older brother, as him and the father stopped in front of a house.
"Shit!" cursed the father. "Where'd he go?"
The younger brother came up behind them. He suddenly saw something at the corner of his eye and turned around.
Footprints, leading under the house.
*************************************************************
Soujiro clutched the wakizashi Shishio had given him. He gasped loudly, hearing his own heart pound as it hammered against his chest. His eyes were wide, filled with fear.
"They're gonna kill me," he gasped, clutching the sword tightly as he closed his eyes, and calling out to the only person he knew that could possibly help him. "Help me Shishio!"
But it wasn't Shishio's voice that Soujiro heard next.
"Found you!"
Soujiro's eyes were opened wide again. He turned and saw the younger brother had found him, and was now crawling towards the scared Soujiro.
"Such a good place to hide," said the younger brother.
Soujiro moved back, and all he could do was hold the sheathed sword between him and the brother. The brother paused in his crawling and just stared at the sword.
"Huh? The small sword looks expensive." He the resumed crawling forward. "Did you steal it from the rice warehouse? Give it here." Now close enough, the brother raised a hand and let it move towards the sword.
'The world is a survival of the fittest,' Soujiro suddenly heard Shishio voice in his mind. And Soujiro couldn't help as his own thoughts echoed with Shishio's words.
The younger brother grabbed the sheath sword, and slowly tugged on the sheath, slowly revealing the blade.
'The strong survive,' Soujiro thought, as memories of the fight between Shishio and the policeman went through his mind again.
The younger brother finished pulling the sheath, and the whole blade now revealed itself.
'The weak.....'
*************************************************************
A scream tore through the night and the rest of the family now stood in front of the house that the younger brother had went under, saying that he found Soujiro.
"I guess he's dead," spoke the father.
"What a cowardly scream," noted the sister.
"That shows in his breeding," put in the grandmother.
A body suddenly appeared from under the house and lied a few yards away from the family, who immediately turned to see it.
"He came out?" questioned the grandmother.
Lightning clashed.....and the sister and grandmother screamed as the light showed that the body wasn't Soujiro's.
It was the younger brother's.
"Ya.....Yanosuke!" cried the older brother.
There was another sound, this one coming from behind the family. They immediately turned around, and saw Soujiro appear from under the house. The now bloodstained sword of the wakizashi was held in his hand, as he let his bangs hide his eyes.
"The world will always be a survival of the fittest," Soujiro said quietly. "Strong survive.....and....."
"You brat!" shouted the older brother, charging at Soujiro.
"I'll kill you!" joined the father, who also charged.
"The weak....." Soujiro turned towards the charging brother and father, revealing the smile on his face and the emotions having disappeared from his eyes.
Another lightning bolt sliced through the night sky. Soujiro screamed once again as he killed the family that had wanted to kill him.
Every.....last.....one.
*************************************************************
Soujiro was now silent. Though he had spoken the darkest parts of his past, he still smiled. But, as he turned to Misao, he suddenly had confusion written on his face.
The ninja girl was staring at him with wide eyes. And Soujiro could only stare at her, watching as different emotions went through her green eyes.
Emotions weren't the only things that came from her eyes.
"Are you crying?" questioned Soujiro, tilting his head to the side as he saw a droplet of water slid down Misao's face.
Misao didn't speak. Actually, she didn't speak for quite some time. Soujiro continued to stare at her questioningly, wondering if Misao's sickness had suddenly started taking effect on her again.
He suddenly blinked in surprise when Misao's arms suddenly wrapped around his neck as she hugged him. For once, Soujiro wasn't sure what to do, or even say.
Whether it was some unconscious part of his mind, he didn't know. But what Soujiro found himself doing was hugging the girl back.
*************************************************************
Author's Note: Dddaaammmnnn! This was a hell of a long chapter. Kind of freaky too. Well, once again you have the episodes I downloaded to thank for this chapter. And even better, more moments of Soujiro/Misao. Hoped you like this chapter. And I better get reviews for this, because this is probably the longest chapter of this fic.