Tsukioka did not return until sometime after midmorning the next day.  Sagara was – understandably – worried, and this worry expressed itself in an almost hysterical rage.  Five minutes after seeing his friend alive and well, and Sagara had started to berate him for making them worry and attempted to worm out the information as to where Tsukioka had spent the night.

Five minutes after that, and Sagara had probably forgotten he had ever been worried.

This was not due to some failing of Sagara's – his friend really was that good at manipulating conversations.  And say what you would about Sagara, but no one had ever accused him of being proficient in verbal skills.

For that matter, no one had ever accused Aoshi of same, either.

But that was fine – Aoshi knew his strength was not in communication, though he could make do in a pinch.  And when one knew he had a weakness, it was easy for him to work around that.  Far more difficult to do so when a person has not admitted to weakness.

Besides, Aoshi had never seen the need to disturb the silence with meaningless syllables just to make someone else comfortable, and when he was younger, he had been at a loss as to why anyone would do so.

But he was rambling.

Sagara most likely bought Tsukioka's façade of well-being.  So, apparently, did Kamiya, Myoujin-chan, and (probably) Misao-chan.  Himura certainly didn't – but neither would he feel able to or comfortable in prying into the affairs of a very good friend of a very good friend, especially one who is at the most indifferent to you.

Tsukioka may not hold any grudge against Himura, personally (as Aoshi believed), but he was, for one reason or another, no more than tepidly polite to the tiny redhead.  It was not obvious – a normal person would simply place Tsukioka as "reserved," stating that he acted that way to everyone he did not know well.  Which was true, but most people made an exception for Himura.

Tsukioka didn't, and apparently did not care to spend the time to get to know anyone besides Sagara better, so Himura would respect his wishes, and pretend to believe the lie.

Aoshi, however, was similarly unfooled, and yet had no compunction against pumping Tsukioka for all he knew if there was a possibility that the other man might be in danger (physical or otherwise)if he did nothing.

Aoshi's thoughts drifted to the painting that was even now tightly rolled in a waterproof container in his luggage, and his mind was made up.

No one who could make something like that should be allowed to anguish needlessly.  He would find out what troubled Tsukioka, and see if he could help the young artist.

Young?

He was barely a few years older than Tsukioka.  The difference was almost negligible.

That didn't matter.

It was night now, and almost everyone (everyone but Himura and Aoshi) had gone to bed.  The tall ninja stood outside the door to his shared room for a moment, thinking about what he was going to do.

Then he opened the door, and went in.

***********************************

*pounds head against wall until skull caves in* Okay, NOW I'm going to kill myself.  1) Day after Halloween: 1st missed day.  I worked my ass off all day, which I did NOT plan on doing, and by the end of the day it was all I could do to collapse on the floor somewhere out of the flow of traffic.  Obviously, no new chapter.  2)  Something I did not know until late Saturday night, but for the past TWO FUCKING DAYS, I have been unable to write and save documents in Word on my computer.  It's fixed now, thank God, and I still have no idea what happened.  So you'll be getting at least two more chapters today I promise.

But please, feel free to kill me anyways.

audreyt26: Well, I hope you don't think it's "another bad yaoi story" anymore.  And um … please explain the next sentence.  I always thought those statements were mutually exclusive.  (or I just don't understand – more likely).  Thanks for the compliments (*preens*), and the whole Aoshi-with-green-eyes thing has been one of the main reasons I can't read a lot of fiction featuring him, sadly.  One of those little things that just completely ruins the story.  :(  Oh, and here.  *hands "I Luv Katsu" pennant*  closet fans, unite!  ^_^

Kuroiyousei:  Well, she's pretty really goddamn horrible, you can believe that.  And yes.  Yes he does.  ^_^  Hmm.  How much do you pay for your site, anyways?  And which provider/host/thingy do you use?  I can probably convince my parents to take it out of my allowance if it's not too bad (but my allowance is $2 a week, or whenever they remember, so I don't really have much breathing room.)

jo: *grins*  *hugs*  *calls mental ward*  *books two spots*  Thanks for the reviews!

Anaii: Well, you probably can wait, actually.  Here's a hint – it's nothing Katsu wants.  At all.