Misao snuck out of the Aoiya a while ago– well, left quietly. Himura ruined her disappearance act by noticing the moment she started to stand up. Damn him. She scrapped her knuckles against a peddelr's stall and cursed silently, angered all out of proportion to the tiny cut.
Damn them all.
Damn Himura for noticing, damn Sano for being hung over, damn Sano's friend for being so polite when it was obvious (to Misao, and anyone else who was trained to noticed little things) that he was hung over too (not so bad as Sano, though) and uncomfortable when the only one he really knew was Sano, damn Ao-
Ao …
She growled to herself, and quite possibly terrified a little boy passing by her. She didn't care. What kind of Okashira was she if she couldn't even say a stupid name, not even in her head?
A pathetic one, that's what kind.
Pateticweakworthlessstupidignorantlittlegirl –
SHUT UP! She screamed at herself, stopping dead still in the middle of the street. People avoided her and didn't even notice. She didn't, either.
Aoshi-sama wouldn't be so stupid, was her final, desperate thought.
There. She'd done it. She'd said his name.
Aoshi-sama.
Aoshi-sama, Aoshi-sama, Aoshi-samaAoshi-samaAoshi-samaAoshi-sama!
Hah! She could too say it. She could even stay in the same room with him, too. Hadn't she spent all last night in his presence and not ran screaming and crying from the room, not even once?
(She'd wanted to, but …)
No. Don't think about that. You are strong. It was a mantra, repeated over and over again. A child hoping that if she said something often enough, it would be true.
It doesn't hurt anymore.
(It didn't.
It DIDN'T!)
Misao hadn't even noticed when she'd started walking again, but she didn't really care about little things like that. Ninjas were above the little things. She wanted to do something, give … Aoshi-sama something – not to say that she was still in love with him!
(She wasn't.
Wasn't.)
Just … just to say that she was alright now –
(She was.
Waswaswas.)
– and that she was still his little sister, right?
(Right?)
Wait a minute.
Misao stopped. Someone ran into her. She didn't notice.
Little things.
Wasn't Sano's friend an artist?
*******************
Again, I really don't feel like writing. But I will. And I did. And now I can play FF8.
AND IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(By the way, everyone go to www.penny-arcade.com. It's a webcomic, and it's really funny today. Or maybe I'm just being weird. But you should go to Penny Arcade anyways, if you don't already. Is mad fun, man. In fact, it's wang-tastic!)