Tales from the Meiji Ward

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"Another week has begun." Aoshi muttered quietly to himself as he got out of his car and headed for the main entrance of Takani Psychiatric Hospital.

A week had already passed and many interns that had spent time in the "Meiji Ward" were quite amazed at the ability of Aoshi…or mainly the fact he had not run for the hills like they had, but it was obvious he was not a quitter. Over this small period of time Aoshi had gotten himself into a routine and surprisingly enough none of his patients minded this routine either. Most were glad that because they had problems he was actually there and trying to speak to them whereas the other interns that have been in this ward couldn't care less.

Aoshi had gotten himself into quite a routine after walking around and casually talking to the patients for the first couple of days as every morning he'd make sure everyone was up and at it, all eating breakfast in the main area and then he'd sit everyone down and they'd have a morning meeting. This was the time for his patients to talk anything and everything out…and only if they wished. Nothing was forced but if they had issues with other patients then this was their chance to voice them.

Of course once Aoshi realized how open he allowed these meetings to be, Kaoru and Sano were soon out of there chairs and both pointing at each other. It happened every morning and while Kenshin tried to calm down his new companion – that being Kaoru – she had ended up smacking him over the head which let rip a series of 'oro-ing' which Kenshin had not spoken for over a day. The first meeting had ended in complete disaster with everyone out of the chairs and screaming at each other…well minus Saitou and Hiko of course. While Kenshin tried to calm everyone, being his ever polite self no one listened to him and in fact he was hit numerous times. It was probably after the fifth hit that something snapped within him and by the gods he had shouted for everyone to shut up. The room went deadly silent and all stared into shimmering gold eyes, narrowed in annoyance as they gazed upon the other patients.

That day the meeting was adjourned, every patient heading their own separate ways and yet three pairs of watchful eyes belonging to Aoshi, Hiko and Saitou were still trained on Kenshin. Even Kaoru, who was constantly by his side, had shrunk away to go back to her room to "calm down" as she mumbled and then high tailed it as far away from Kenshin as possible. Sano had made an inaudible grumble that morning and went back to the corner Aoshi had first sent him too when he arrived. It was clear everyone was avoiding the usually calm and collected redhead as he was definitely not that at this very moment.

Nothing else had happened that day for as soon as Aoshi quietly made his way to the annoyed Kenshin, placing his hand calmly one the short man's shoulder he had instantly snapped out of his "weird" behaviour and was once again in full clueless mode. It appeared Kenshin had no recollection of what had occurred and thus Hiko kept the "baka deshi" occupied for most of the day until everyone came out of hiding to realize that normal sweet Kenshin was back.

"Ohayoo Shinomori-san…" Aoshi lifted his eyes towards the receptionist waving at him and kindly replied with waving back.

Heading towards the male staff change rooms Aoshi headed inside and sat down in front of his locker once more. Opening the lock on the door he pulled it open and glanced at the white coat in front. Aoshi had noticed long ago that he looked odd in that white coat. His usual dark and brooding aura in pure white was just a strange concept, but even to this day Aoshi would never change his ideas and goals of trying to help others overcome their insecurities or tragedies. He too was once a victim of tragedy and still to this day he can never forget what had happened, but life went on and he had to get on with it and thus his time was taken mostly up with being an intern for those in need of guidance, patience and time.

Sighing lightly Aoshi got up and stripped out of his black trench coat and placed it on the hanger before downing his white coat over his crisp white shirts and black dress trousers. Placing his bag in the locker, slamming it shut and locking it, Aoshi made his way towards the Meiji Ward and swiped his security pass through the detector as it buzzed him inside. Stopping in his tracks as the double doors closed behind him Aoshi noted that all, which actually meant Misao as well, were seated around the long table waiting for him. His eyes narrowed slightly, slowing moving throughout the area as though waiting for something to happen. His eyes remained a little longer on Misao, who was sitting at the table but still staring out a window as though it were her only saviour from where she was in the dark recesses of her heart.

"Have a seat Shinomori." Aoshi's eyes moved to gold as Saitou was standing up and pointing to a chair at the head of the table. Calmly making his way to the chair Aoshi sat down and watched as Saitou sat on the left of him with of course Tokio right by his side.

"What is going on?" Aoshi questioned and watched as Saitou leaned back in his chair as he waved his hand in Kenshin's direction – who was sitting to his right – and spoke once more.

"We will each go around the table, one at a time and discuss what is bothering us. No one and I repeat no one is going to interrupt anyone until everyone has spoken what they wish to say. Himura here has decided to start." Aoshi turned his eyes to Kenshin who stood up and lightly cleared his throat.

"Last week everyone saw…well…a strange side to me that you don't normally see. It's been a problem of mine since I was very young and to this day I'm still trying to gain full control over it so I won't look so menacing. If I harmed anyone in any way please tell me so I can somehow make up for it because a side affect of losing myself to this other self is that I forget what I have done in that other self." Violet eyes stared at the silent blinking eyes of the other patients (besides Misao who was looking out the window) until his eyes fell upon blue ones belonging to Kaoru.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." He muttered quietly before sitting back down, long bangs covering his eyes from view. Seated next to Kenshin was in fact Sano who was chewing on a toothpick. He leaned back in the chair much like Saitou did but his arms were folded behind his head while he gazed up at the ceiling as though thinking on what an issue for him was going to be.

"I don't have issues to discuss." Aoshi nodded his head and gestured for Yahiko to begin if he wished, but as he parted his lips to announce something Sano slapped his hand over the boy's mouth and continued on.

"Well actually now that I think of it I have a problem with constantly being hit." Sano paused there to turn his cinnamon eyes onto lowered blue as Kaoru fidgeted in her seat. "I may speak without thinking sometimes, but I don't truly mean what I say so could you perhaps stop hitting me all the time. Just think of me and Yahiko calling you 'Jo-chan' and 'ugly' as terms of endearments because we like you." Green-grey eyes observed as Kaoru bristled in her chair. Her hands were obviously fisted in her lap and her lowered eyes had now screwed shut. She was ready to explode.

"Kamiya-san, remember to remain calm. You will have your say after Yahiko-kun, Yukishiro-san and Hiko-san alright?" Aoshi watched Kaoru nod her head as her enraged trembles subsided and she slumped back in the chair once more a calm young woman. For how long? Nobody knew, but for now everyone was safe. Aoshi truly didn't need another all out fight going on in the ward so early in the morning like it happened last week. Not only that, although Misao was positioned at the head of the table opposite him, she had never conversed with anyone and would continue to remain locked away and thus he didn't include her into the discussions.

TBC…

Authors Notes: My apologies for the lame update Minna-san, its just I've run out of time to fully update this story so this will have to do for the time being. I'm heading overseas so there will be NO updates for quite sometime. Oh, another thing, is that if any of you want to ask me questions…do you think you could leave an email address in your review so I can reply to them? I've had numerous questions and can't answer for the simple fact there is no email address to reply too. So yeah, leave one and I'll get back to you. Ja!