"Here you are, Misao-chan," Omasu handed over the exquisitely arranged lunch tray to me. The was a closed bowl of rice, another of miso, fish, tofu, seaweed, and of course tea. I smiled slightly sheepishly as I accepted it.

"Thanks, Omasu. I could never prepare something like this."

She waved me away. "Don't be silly. Besides, your Aoshi-sama should be glad to get whatever he gets, shouldn't he?"

There it was again. For the last few months I had been sensing a slight animosity against Aoshi-sama from not only Omasu, but Okon, Shiro and Kuro as well. I simply shrugged, and smiled helplessly. "Aoshi-sama has more important things to do then worry about what he eats."

She clucked her tongue lightly. "If it weren't for you, I don't think he would eat." I fidgetted, uncomfortable, and she took pity on me. "Go on. Give him his tray before it gets cold, okay?"

I grinned my thanks. "Okay. Thanks for preparing the tray again, Omasu!" I carefully carried it to Aoshi-sama's room, brushing disaster a few times as the tea threatened to slop out of it's cup. Everything was deadly quiet except for my noisy footsteps. Well, I would fix that soon. I opened the sliding doors with a foot. "Good afternoon, Aoshi-sama!"

He looked up, and my heart ached to see the sharp line of his cheekbones running to his the chiseled edge of his jaw. He really was too thin...Even with my nagging him to eat all the time. And he didn't belong in that ratty old yukata - Aoshi-sama belonged in his omnitsu gear. He still looked strange to me not in it. I tried not to let my concern show, but instead plastered a smile on my face. "Hey, Aoshi-sama, did you hear the story of how..."

Meiji Heights
By Aishiteru
Part 4: Being a Girl

I woke up with a start. As usual, Shinomori-sempai had already left our room, his bed immaculately made. I stretched lazily, then rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. What a peculiar dream! I could remember something about my cousin Omasu, and sempai, and Jiya and Himura-san had been mixed into it as well...Aoshi-sama. Why had I been calling sempai Aoshi-sama?

I shrugged it off as simply another weird and wonderful product of my bizarre mind, then flung back the covers, and attempted to get out of bed. Well, it was more a fall out of bed, but at least I got out. I stood up, hauled off the tangled bedding in preparation to straightening everything up, when to my horror, I saw...

A big red stain.

Crapcrapcrap....I flung my blankets back on the bed, scrabbled at the back of the my cupboards for a pad, grabbed my uniform and a spare pair of underpants, then made a beeline for the bathroom. My pajamas were...well, let's just say they needed a wash now, huh? I jumped into the shower, and gave them a hasty rinse that got rid of the obvious signs of a bloodstain, cleansed myself, then hurriedly changed into my clothes. It was lucky that no one was in the showers this morning - I gave the bath a longing look, but I wouldn't be soaking in that for about a week. I would just have to bear all the aches and pains kenpo gave me.

After I dumped my stained pajamas into the laundry, I took stock of my sheets. Hopeless. I pulled them all off my bed, and snuck off to the girl's laundry, which was thankfully deserted as well. I checked the clock - everyone would be in assembly currently. I would have to say I had slept in this morning. I scrubbed out the worst of the blood, then tossed everything into a washing machine, and left it to run. They were only school sheets - I took out a fresh set from the cupboard, and made up my bed. By the time I was done with everything, first class was just about to begin. Maths, first thing in the morning too. Ugh.

My day passed in utter discomfort. It was around third class - senior English - when my cramps first hit. I tried not to whimper too loudly, but ended up almost doubled up over my desk, clutching the area around my stomach. The teacher was coming around with worksheets, when I knew I had to go to the toilet right then, or I would be in serious trouble. I stood up so abruptly, my chair fell over. "Excuse me sensei! I have to go to the bathroom!"

Without waiting for her consent, I rushed out of the room. I had spent much of the lesson hunched up on the toilet, when someone banged loudly on the door. "Oi, weasel! Sensei wants to know when you're coming back."

I managed to squeak out, "Not now."

I heard the shuffle of his feet. "Jeez, what's wrong with you, Makimachi?"

"Stomach ache," I gasped through my teeth. Right now, my lower back was killing me, and I could feel that every muscle below my stomach was unbearably tight and knotted.

Being a girl really sucks!

"Uh, maybe you should see the nurse or something. You could really be sick, or something."

I let out a short laugh, that sounded like it could be weeping. "Concern from you, rooster?"

A short pause, and then he snorted. "Come on. Let's take you to see the nurse."

I groaned, but got off the toilet, flushing before I left. Sano watched me laboriously wash my hands while half hunched over. To his credit, he didn't look one bit amused, even though I imagine I must have looked quite funny. Then he steered me quite firmly towards the sick bay, while I sweated, and tried to formulate a plan that wouldn't include telling the nurse that I had my stupid period. Why, oh why was it so heavy now? Usually they passed through with only the minimum of discomfort, and were over within four days or so. True this one was late, and I had skipped the last one, but...

"Yeah, he's got a bad stomachache."

That was Sano, talking to the nurse, while I was trying my best to unhunch and look normal and healthy.

"I see."

Wait a minute, that was a male voice! Not the voice of our school nurse!

"It's really lucky you're here today, Dr. Genzai. He looks really sick."

Eeep! It was the school doctor! But maybe that was better - a woman would think of period pain first with stomach pain. Maybe Dr. Genzai would think I had gastro or something...

"Well, let's take a look at him."

Dr. Genzai was a comical looking man, half stooped over from age. His hair was snowy white, and he smiled somewhat foolishly at me. "Good afternoon, Makimachi-kun. Sagara-kun tells me you're not feeling well."

"I'm fine," I gritted from clenched teeth.

"If you say so. Let's just have a quick look at you - you're sweating a bit, and you look rather pale."

"I'm fine, doctor. Really."

If he examined me, he would have to take off my bandages, and that would rather prominently proclaim my true gender. Sano stared at me with narrowed eyes, and I began to sweat a little more. Did he suspect?

"You idiot!" he yelled. "You're worried that you'll miss kenpo practice today, aren't you?"

I hadn't even thought of kenpo yet. I blanched at the thought of someone kicking me in the stomach today.

"I knew it!" Rooster head declared. "You are such an idiot!"

"B-but," I stammered. This was too good an opportunity. "I need to go everyday! If I don't go, Shinomori-sempai might kick me off the team..."

"Idiot! He won't do that! Shinomori's reasonable."

"B-but..."

I ended up arguing my case to Sano too well. So here I was, wishing someone would just kill me and put me out of my misery, changed into my kenpo uniform, assuming the position against Shinomori-sempai.

This wasn't going to be pretty. I had been under Hannya's tutelage for a few weeks, and I knew sempai expected me to be improved. And I was improved, but right now I just wanted to drop to the gym mats, curl up into a little ball, and whimper in agony.

Sempai moved out first, in a fairly straight forward left right combination. I managed to dodge that, while my body complained loudly. What I didn't expect was the swift kick he dealt out to my poor stomach as I dodged out of the way. Waves of agony spread out, but I managed to flip back onto my hands, and back off, while my spine felt like it might snap into two.

A sudden wave of irrational anger hit me. How dare he spar with me like nothing was wrong, when I felt this bad! Couldn't sempai tell I was in pain? Didn't he care? Of course not, he was a male and he could never ever know what pain I went through every single bloody month! Of course, I conveniently forgot, or selectively ignored the fact that everyone - including the object of my ire - thought I was a boy.

I surged forward, feeling my anger pulse through my poor aching body. All of Hannya's teachings suddenly seemed to connect, and I knew I had learnt a lot. But for all my improved techniques, I still couldn't break through sempai's guard, not even for one blow. I snarled my frustration, and I cringe now to think of what happened. I completely lost my head. My blows became increasingly wild, and in the end Shinomori-sempai didn't even have to try to block me. While I lunged forward in a vicious punch that would have hurt had it hit, he stepped to one side, then casually hooked my ankles out from underneath me with a well-placed foot. I hit the gym mats hard - and stomach first - and tried not to let the tears leak out of my eyes.

"That. Was terrible."

I cringed at the complete lack of emotion in those three words. There was no disapproval, surprise or anger present, just a simple statement of facts.

"I had thought you better then that. Hannya reported back favourably, but now I wonder if his judgment was clouded."

At this I shot to my feet. That was unfair, and completely untrue! I wouldn't get - Hannya - in trouble too....

With a groan I doubled over, and fell back on the mats. I saw surprise, and then concern flicker briefly over sempai's face, and then he was kneeling next to me. "Makimachi-kun? What's wrong?"

"Stomach ache," I croaked. My eyes were scrunched up, but I could feel a warm salty wetness oozing through them, and could only pray that sempai wouldn't notice. That first blow, and the fall had really hurt....

I more sensed then saw his brow furrow in mixed irritation and alarm. "I don't expect members to fight when they're ill. You should have informed me, Makimachi."

I could only curl up on my side and quietly whimper.

He sighed. "Come on. Let's take you back to our room. Do you need help?"

I nodded pathetically.

The trip back was nightmarish. I was supposedly leaning on sempai, but I think he more carried me back to our room. If I hadn't been in so much pain, I would have been mortified and worried at being in such close contact, but as it was, I simply buried my head on his shoulder, and tried to concentrate on anything but the pain. He managed to juggle me while unlocking, then kicking our door open, and then dumped me in bed. I immediately curled up into a tight little ball, while he tucked the sheets around me.

"Do you need to throw up?"

I wish. "No."

The bed creaked and gave way, as he sat on the lower unoccupied half of my bunk. "Do you need to see someone? The nurse?"

"No."

"Do you need anything?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"....Just shoot me, and put me out of my misery."

Yes, I know that was a silly and melodramatic thing to say, but at that moment I was fishing for all the sympathy I could get.

The week passed, and I struggled through it. Kenpo was firmly cancelled for me that week; I was allowed to watch, but that was all, until I 'got better'. I stayed away from classes for the first two days, but eventually dragged my ass out of my room, because sempai kept coming back between his classes to check that I was as well as could be expected. It was very sweet of him, but very inconvenient. Plus, his constant checking was making him late for every subject.

And so the next week dawned, with "Masaru" Makimachi fully recovered from his "stomach flu", ready for everything, and anything.

Or so I thought.

"Makimachi-kun!" Kamiya Kaoru exclaimed, as I walked through the door, bright and early on Monday morning, looking only moderately sleepy, compared to half-dead. "You look so much better!"

I smiled. "Thanks Kaoru-san."

I had met Kaoru while we were both supposed to be cleaning the classroom. It deteriorated into me throwing blackboard dusters as an example of how to properly throw kunai and other sharp pointy things, and her using the mop ( the wet dripping mop ) as an example of how to properly swing a shinai. It had ended with both of us in detention, and then on scrubbing-the-toliet duty for two weeks. Ugh. Boy's toilets...aren't really that different from girls, except for the ones on the wall...and the things that they keep on flushing down them. Anything from sandwiches to the daily bulletins.

She grinned back. "We were-" a gesture to the general huddle of people around the front of the classroom around her. It included a rather odd mix of people draped on various chairs and desks, first, second and third years. "-talking about the this weekend's interschool athletics. You'll be there right? You are fully recovered now, aren't you?"

Before I could stop her, Takani Megumi firmly grabbed my chin, and placed her other hand first on her own forehead, then on mine. She then proceeded to examine my eyes, ears, and other facial features, then feel the pulse on my neck and wrist. "He seems healthy enough." A few other people, including Himura Kenshin, rooster head and his friend Katsu, peered at me in 'concern.'

I gave them all my best disgruntled beady-eyed glare. "I'm fine, thank you."

Megumi simply smirked, and let me go, while the boys badly concealed their amusement at her mothering. "Glad to hear it."

I turned back to Kaoru-san. "I think I should be. I don't see why I wouldn't be there."

She smiled. "Great! I heard that the kenpo captain was going to be missing, so I thought maybe your whole team might not be competing."

I snorted rudely. "Yeah right. Over our dead bodies. Besides, I hadn't heard anything about Aoshi-sama not being there."

Himura shrugged. "Aoshi said that he had some sort of family function on, that his parents insisted he attend. But he'll only be missing Saturday. Kenpo's scheduled for Sunday, so it should be alright."

"Really?" I blinked. "He didn't say anything in club."

"I was going to tell everyone today, since you'll participating in practice, Makimachi-kun."

"Ah!" I started in surprise, then turned. "Oh, good morning, Aoshi-sama."

My words came out in dead silence, and not a few eyebrows were raised. Of course rooster head commented on it first, picking up on something I hadn't noticed I was saying.

"'Aoshi-sama', weasel? Since when did he become your lord and master? Or are you part of his fanclub?"

I went bright red, as I realized just what I had been calling sempai. "Ah," I floundered for a suitably cutting reply, but my mind had gone blank. And it was of course two hours later when I thought of something reasonably good. But at that moment, I settled for trying to change the subject. "What fan club?"

Sano grinned viciously. "A whole bunch of first and second - hell even some of the third year girls - set up the "We Love Aoshi-sama" club. You should see them trailing after ice-man here, stars in there eyes, and lust in their-"

Himura delicately interrupted him. "They all refer to him as 'Aoshi-sama.' But I think you're the first person out of it to call him that."

I slapped on my best cheesy grin, and rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Come to think of it, I think I have seen those girls. I must of heard them calling sempai 'Aoshi-sama' and it must have just stuck in my head. Sorry, sempai!"

Until then he had been even more silent then usual, but as I turned to address my apology to him, I noticed that...he was blushing? He was! His eyes were slightly averted to one side away from everyone, and the slightest hint of red tinted his cheekbones. If his skin hadn't been so fair, I don't think I would've noticed it. And of course on seeing it...

"Sempai, are you blushing!?" It came out more as a yelp of surprise, then a properly delivered tease, I was that shocked.

"No," he said quietly, but firmly. Everyone else, however, was studying him now.

"You are," Sano said, a wide smirk slowly blossoming across his face. "You are, Shinomori! So you're not completely made out of ice!"

Everyone was quietly chortling by that stage, even me, though I felt a twinge of pity for poor sempai. He retaliated at Sano by giving him so black a glare, rooster head should have dropped dead. "Aren't we supposed to be organizing this weekend, not discussing this sort of thing?"

"But it's just so interesting -"

"Sagara. Shut up."

We were stuffing around in the Common Room after school - Katsu had smuggled up his DreamCast, and was proceeding to bash everyone up on Soul Caliber - when The Head of the Maths Department, The Most Feared Teacher in school, Saitou Hajime himself, darkened the door way. Controllers dropped from suddenly sweat stricken hands, and we waited in guilty silence for the verdict.

"Makimachi. There's a phone call for you."

With that he vanished, and we all exchanged incredulous glances that we had gotten off that easily. I climbed to my feet, while the game was slowly resumed, then shut the door behind me. The 'telephone' room was down the hall, and I picked up, then assured that secretary it was in fact Makimachi Masaru, and I would be happy to talk to my grandfather. She disconnected herself, and I nervously glanced around, then closed the door. And wedged a chair underneath the doorknob.

"Hi Jiya!" I chirped, after I was done checking out the security.

"Misao-chan!" he warbled happily.

We exchanged the usual kind of conversation, him repeatedly asking about my health, if anyone had found out, was I alright living with all those rough boys, was the kenpo club really all that good? I assured him, that I was fine, no, no one had found out, or even seemed to suspect ( the fools! HAHAHAHA! ) , and no, the boys were alright, and yes, the kenpo club was worth it, and that I was learning a lot. From there, it proceeded to talk about my studies, and about how my cousins were.

At first I was surprised at where the conversation was going, but then I began to suspect. He was lingering too long on how we hadn't seen Omasu and Okon in such a long time. "Jiya," I finally growled. "Get to the point."

He gave one of his ridiculous old man giggles, then sobered up. "Well, Misao-chan...the thing is..."

"Yes?"

"I promised Omasu that you would be coming home on the weekend, and they and your aunt are having a family gathering and everything...."

"Jiya. Out with the rest of it."

"Well...Misao-chan...that is...I sort of told them about what we were doing. You know, you pretending to be a boy and all."

I dropped the phone. Distantly, I could hear Jiya's voice squawking, "Misao-chan? Misao-chan!" But all I could think of was disaster. I wouldn't object to Okon and Omasu and my aunt and uncle knowing. What I did object to was the entire neighborhood knowing. And believe me, once Omasu or Okon knew, everyone would know. Both of my cousins, while beloved, are notorious gossips.

Numbly I picked the phone up. Jiya somewhat dubiously reassured me that both of them had sworn to keep the gossip behind their teeth. Somehow, the very doubtfulness in his voice did not calm me. We spoke some more, but he sensed I was somewhat shellshocked, and cut his ramble short. I hung up, and was on my way back to the Common Room, when I realized that I had agreed not only to go to Omasu and Okon's 'family gathering' but it was this weekend. As in the weekend of the Interschool Athletics.

Everyone in the Oniwabanshuu was going to kill me.

Author's Note: Phew. *wipes brow* There, was that long enough to make up for the incredibly short third chapter? Anyway, things should start coming to a head in the next chapter. Was this chapter alright? I wasn't too sure if it flowed properly. And no, this ISN'T going to be a reincarnation fic, I just felt like Misao having a dream. I was going to have a lot of weird stuff happening, like Sano actually turning into a rooster, and her teeth falling out, but (hey, some dreams are weird) it ended up being easier and nicer to have something fairly coherent.

Review replies:

Nye-Yen: Yes Ma'am, then. Sir is an unfortunate habit of mine. There, I got back to A/M, hahah!

DiaBlo: Thank god someone knows. I was thoroughly confused over poor Okita-kun's name.

saicho-18: I would like the rest of "Forgotten" (that's the title) to be readable as well. Only it...kind of isn't. It's really not my fault! The next damn chapter simply will not write! I'm slowly wading through the knots though - so please bear with me. This fic is much easier - I don't have to dabble into history, I can simply stick with what I vaguely know, and make up the rest. Hehehe. But rest assured, I am still working on my other fics.

+killua+ : Ah, a fellow A/M addictee. There, I wrote more.

JML: *grins*

Crystal: Yay! Another Tomoe-fic author! I promise to read and review as soon as my internet speeds up again.

Vesca: *evil grin* Well, technically, Kenshin was Tomoe's before he was Kaoru's...*is hit by truckload of vegetables from raving K/K fans* There may not be strict pairings...Things are so much more interesting that way, are they not? Heheh, I rather enjoyed writing Yahiko's comments on Yutarou. Those two are just so funny together!

lebleuphoenix: Meiji High isn't an all-boy school - the girl's and boy's dorms are separate, that's all. And yes, she does have a roommate - if you read the first chapter, it should say somewhere. Her roommate is none other then Aoshi! If you think it's weird that a first year is bunking with a third year, it's because Misao transferred in in the middle of the term. Or something like that. And Aoshi had a double room to himself. "Another" chapter with Yahiko's POV? ???? There may be a subplot; this fic has more of them then I know what to do with. Aoshi's POV should finally be the next chapter.

Sano: I made Tomoe passive, because a lot of the time, she does seem to be fairly passive. Then out of the blue, she'll throw out one of those really cutting comments that make Kenshin's head hurt. Heehee. Well, the next chapter should have a lot of action in it.

dynast: YAY!!!!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! Oh, yeah, I have to e-mail you. Gomen! I will e-mail you my account! Thank you so much! I will not take the lazy way out, and post it up here in hopes that you're actually reading this. I reallyreallyreally want to read hanakimi. I just have to force myself to sign in, and write...ehehehe, um, can it wait until my internet becomes fast again? Thank you!

blue eyes: Sankyuu!!!!!!!!

tenshineko: Doesn't Enishi always have anger management problems? Ah, now that I read the sentence, it does seem a little unclear. I changed it to "No wonder he did kendo in school..." Is that clearer? Hmm, Misao is getting closer to being unmasked any day now...should be fun. Tokyo Crazy Paradise, huh? I'll have to check it out.

Mai: Ah, thank you! Was this chapter long enough? It's something in excess of 3000+ words. Although I'm aware that many authors push out even further, I don't think I can. It's exhausting writing and re-reading even this much for me! Yeah, having messy (or non-existent) paragraphs really bugs me, so I try to keep mine as organized as I can, although it gets kind of confusing sometimes...

Thank you for all the reviews! Please keep on giving me feedback - it really helps if I know exactly what I have to fix up.