"Kenshin!"
Sano's voice was quite clear, even from outside the dojo, causing Kaoru to stop mid-pour and purse her lips in annoyance. She had finally succeeded in restraining Misao enough so that Kaoru could offer both her and Aoshi-san dinner, and now Sano was showing up too. Ancestors only knew what the freeloader was doing showing up at this time – it was nowhere near normal dinnertime.
"I'll see what he wants, Kaoru-dono, that I will." Kenshin stood gracefully and walked to the door, somehow making it so that his exit seemed no slight at all to Misao or Aoshi. Kaoru sighed once he had left the room.
"I'm terribly sorry, Misao-chan, Aoshi-san. I didn't know that Sano would interrupt your dinner like this –"
"It is nothing," assured Aoshi before Misao could speak up. "What are friends for, if not for interrupting at dinnertime?"
"Uh-huh!" Misao nodded vigorously, bring a smile back onto Kaoru's face. Sure the small ninja could be tiring after awhile, but most of the time she was just a sweet little girl. "Besides, Sano's alright, you know, for a lazy bum –"
"Ah, Kaoru-dono?" Where Sano's voice bludgeoned through the walls, Kenshin's floated around them, without necessarily losing anything in the way of volume. "We … might need your help for a little bit, that we will."
Well, if that didn't make them all perk up in attention (though admittedly, with Aoshi it was less of a perk and more of a slow upward motion), then nothing would.
"Kenshin?" By now both Kaoru and Misao were standing, with Aoshi beginning to make the motions of rising. "What is …"
She didn't need to finish the question, because right at that point the answer came walking through the door.
***************************
Okay, first Id like to say that I'm terribly sorry for doing this to you all. I actually didn't want to leave you with this slippery of a cliff-hanger but … it's 11:35 right now and I'd like to at least pay lip service to the schedule. More tomorrow – I'll have a semi-decent amount of time, so I'll try and make it a long one, 'kay?
FarStrider: thanks VERY MUCH for the review, and actually, no one burned Katsu's house down. Well, technically, the lamp did, but that doesn't really count. (See? I can too write a story in which something bad happens that isn't actually purposeful! Booyah! … And no one will understand that unless they happen to be a close personal friend of mine – oh well)
Kuroyousei: *laughs* Well, I'm sorry, but you're a bit stuck on the update thing. I'm thinking about changing the official classification to updated "nightly," because it's a rare weekday when I get a chapter up before 9:00 PM EST. If you give me a couple weeks, then cross-country will be over, and I'll have a lot more time to update before I have to go to karate (and don't get back until 8) As for your excessive compliments … desist, foul temptress! You'll get me into thinking that I'm halfway decent again, and if I'm going to do the whole moody-depressed-high-school-writer-thing, that is completely unacceptable! (No really, I'm the best – I know it … *snicker*)
… Someone once said that I had the lowest self-image and the highest self-esteem of anyone they'd ever met. I kinda like that.
T-S-U-K-I-O-K-A, right? Grr. I'll get his name right someday! (Is it okay in this one?) this is why I need a beta who knows what they're doing … speaking of which … you really would? Really, truly, honestly? No shittin me or anything? Because that would rock so much I think I'd be able to build a mountain. Seriously, I need a beta who picks on every little tiny thing – because that is so much kinder than re-reading your story after you posted it and finding all your mistakes yourself. (now, if you mean to write "play," but you actually write "lay," what do you think that does to the sentence? NOTHING GOOD) So … you really would beta for For Freedom? Please? Because if you did I think I would just … just … write a whole couple pages of Saitou/Sano one-shot out of pure gratitude. Just because I would be so happy.
That's kinda my best offer. Please?