Author's Note: Eh…erm…can't think of anything to say here. I KNOW I should be working on "Pools of Emptiness", but I'm kind of stuck on that one. But I'm supposed to be at the part where it's EASY to write. Then why am I having so much trouble? Probably because the last chapter I posted stunk and sucked all my enthusiasm away. :o( Ah well…I'll think of something soon for it…

Disclaimer: How many times do I have to tell you that I own Rurouni Kenshin? Well, anyways, I DO!! I REALLY DO!!! I can't believe that you even dared to think that I didn't own it ('cause I do!)! So then why do I NOT own it? Ahem…okay, so that didn't make any sense…


Chapter 1

"You have to be ready – the time for you to roam the human world is tomorrow night!" an elderly woman exclaimed, looking sternly at a young girl wearing red. "If you pronounce even the smallest syllable incorrectly, then everything will be ruined!"

The girl rolled her eyes.

"I've already studied that crap for long enough."

"But, this is your FIRST time! If you mess up – well…who KNOWS what may happen! And it will be an embarrassment to our people!"

Sighing, the young girl looked up at the elderly woman. "What exactly am I supposed to DO?"

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO GRANT WISHES!" the old woman yelled.

"How am I supposed to know how to do THAT?"

Glaring, the woman sat down next to the girl. "I'll help you this time – but never again, you understand me? Later, you're going to have to do all this by yourself—I had to, and you're going to have to do the same."

"Okay…now what am I supposed to do?"

"There was this girl—she had a dream about how this man turned into another man—the butcher boy, in fact. I think it may mean that she wants the butcher boy to marry her!" the lady offered. "You could grant that wish—you could cause the butcher boy to fall in love with her!'

The girl looked thoughtfully down at her hands. "Well…I would think that she liked the OTHER guy—you know, the better looking one! Why would she want a pimple-covered idiot who wanted her to clean his toenails?"

Sighing, the elderly woman replied, "Love is a beautiful thing. Perhaps she loves the butcher boy so much, that she is willing to overlook all his imperfections—no matter how perfect the other man is."

The girl rolled her eyes. Old women and their fantasies of love…

"Okay then…what are all their names?" she asked.

The older lady thought for a moment. "I believe the girl's name was…Misao…and…the good-looking guys name was…Aoshi, and the butcher boy? His name was—"

Holding her hand up, the young girl stopped the elderly lady from saying the butcher boy's name. "We'll just call him the butcher boy, okay?"

So Misao…contrary to my grandmother's belief, I think you like that Aoshi guy, right? Well…I can do that…that's why I don't need to know that butcher boy's name…

And with that, the girl in red pulled out a book of the Old Language and began studying.

The older lady turned to leave, but instead, she turned back toward the girl she said, "Do not make any mistakes, okay? If you do, you will be ruining an age-old legend."

Little did they know, they were already beginning to make one.


Misao yawned as she walked slowly and sleepily toward her room.

Great…now I'm tired. But if I fall asleep, I'm liable to have that stupid dream again!!

It wouldn't have been surprising – Misao had the same dream again the night before. It was almost becoming some sickeningly horrible habit. As little as Misao wanted to admit it, she did enjoy the part where Aoshi was in it. It made her feel warm and fluttery inside. Of course, having that butcher boy in it made the whole thing a disaster.

Misao continued walking, muttering, "Stop it," under her breath. I hate that dream with the butcher boy – what was his name? It was very similar to Aoshi-sama's…perhaps Aaoshi or Aooshi or something along those lines.

Shaking her head, Misao reached her bedroom. Although she hated the butcher boy, she sometimes thought that having the dream was worth the horror – because of this dream, she could manage to see Aoshi even during her sleep! She stopped in front of the doorway, frowning. It hadn't been her own imagination that invoked the dream – when she went to the marketplace, Aaoshi or Aooshi or Aoshii had made it plain that he was interested in her. It was fortunate that she was a swift runner, as she had to do some running to avoid being throttled to death in the butcher boy's arms.

She walked in, feeling more confused then ever.

Outside Misao's window, the dusky sky caused Misao to shiver involuntarily, and a sense of foreboding spread throughout her body, though the reason remained unknown.

Everything will be okay…


Aoshi was angry – oh, it wasn't visible on his face…he was just…angry. Ever since Misao had mentioned the Legend of the Red Moon, Aoshi had been unpleasantly reminded of the time when he had been told about the legend.

They were horrible, horrible times. Looking back, Aoshi wished that he had never mentioned that he had seen a lady in red. It was that action that had caused what seemed to be an unending era of cheek-pinching, and the everlasting phrase "Aw, how CUTE!" was heard being thrown at him every few minutes.

He shuddered at these horrible memories, while a small voice inside his head said defiantly, "I'm not CUTE…"

Fortunately, the only one at the Aoiya who knew of this was Okina, whom Aoshi had already threatened not to tell. Aoshi had used to an embarrassing piece of information (that happened to involve Okina and a female) to his advantage. Okina, who didn't seem too keen on getting this information out too quickly, complied with Aoshi's terms.

Besides, even if Okina decided to tell everyone his deep, dark secret, Aoshi already had a plan. Since a red moon was coming up, he could force the others to watch for the lady in red. The only downfall with this plan was that if the lady in red didn't show up…well…he didn't want to think about it.

However, Aoshi felt confident that what he had seen was real, as he didn't have a very wild imagination as a child. He preferred books that dealt with strategy rather than ones of dragons and fairies.

Aoshi pulled his legs out of the rigid lotus position and stood up.

As he walked quickly out of the temple, he nodded quietly to a passing monk, who seemed to decipher this action as "goodbye."

Feeling the need to remind Okina of their…agreements, Aoshi headed toward the Aoiya. Aoshi knew that Okina tended to be forgetful, thought he doubted if Okina was naturally forgetful, even though he was at a great age. In fact, Aoshi suspected that Okina pretended to be forgetful, as it had saved his face a couple of times.

That would be something Okina would do…

With a slight smile on his face, Aoshi continued to walk towards the Aoiya, enjoying the quietness of the day – that is, until he heard an explosion of sound (that sounded suspiciously like a long-haired weasel).


"WHERE IS IT?! OH NO!! I CAN'T FIND IT!!!" Misao screamed as she dug frantically through the wooden kitchen drawers. She was clutching a single black cherry wood chopstick tightly in her hand, and her face had turned red with frustration.

"Misao, what — ?"

"IT'S GONE!!! ALL IS LOST!!!" Misao turned and looked threateningly at Kuro. "YOU TOOK IT, DIDN'T YOU?! YOU TOOK THE OTHER CHOPSTICK!! HOW COULD YOU?! YOU KNEW IT WAS MY SPECIAL PAIR OF CHOPSTICKS!! HOW COULD YOU?!!"

Kuro blinked, looking very bewildered. "I…what? I didn't…you know I didn't…"

"THEN WHO TOOK IT?! I KNOW YOU KNOW WHERE IT IS!!!"

Okon walked into the kitchen.

Misao turned around, glaring suspiciously at Okon. "WHERE DID YOU PUT IT, OKON?! WHERE DID YOU HIDE IT?!"

Looking equally as confused as Kuro, Okon opened her mouth to speak. "Where did I put what, Misao? You know I wouldn't take anything of yours – unless I think it's inappropriate or something. But surely I haven't taken anything recently…"

Misao's face had turned, if possible, even redder than before. "MY OTHER CHOPSTICK!!!" she bellowed, waving the other one in the air.

Okon looked horrified. "That…chopstick? Oh…I…Okina…oh no…"

"WHAT?!"

"He…er…he used it to…to…"

"TO WHAT?!"

Okon trembled.

At that precise moment, Okina walked through the kitchen door, whistling happily. He took one look at a red-faced Misao and a scared-looking Okon, and, still whistling, decided that it would be best to back out of the door, hoping that no one would notice.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!!" Misao yelled. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH IT?!"

Okina had no choice but to stop. "Er…d-do with what, Misao?"

"YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!" and with that, Misao flung her other chopstick at Okina, as if she was attempting to poke his eye out. Okina seemed to sense the danger in this, as he immediately opened his mouth to say something.

"I…er…used it for something…i-important…might I add…t-that you look…er…stunningly…pretty t-today?"

"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!! WHAT DID YOU DO??!"

Okina then made a crucial decision. Rather than answer Misao's question and face the consequences, he decided that it would be best to turn and run for it, with a red Misao at his heels. However, at that moment, Misao saw something that made her heart stop: Aoshi – her Aoshi – was standing in the doorway, looking slightly amused, and to Misao's utter dread, she felt her face turning, not red, but instead, a deep shade of purple.


Author's Note: Okey dokey then…sorry this chappie took so long to get out. My mom changed her mind about me being able to write during the summertime – no, she has decided that I can't write at all. Of course, I think this is outrageous, which is why I changed my penname. (Hence the "purple" in the middle of it…) Sorry if that's a mouthful: unique-purple-starfish…Anyhow…I think the only time I can update now is whenever my mother's back is turned. Of course, it will be easier for me to update when I get back to school, but for now, this is all I can do. I will try, however, to change my penname to something easier to type – unless y'all don't mind it, of course…

Please, do tell me what you thought of this chapter. I know it's not the best, but it's the best I could come up with. I will update, though the time is unknown even to me. I have no guarantee that I will update soon, though I will try to as soon as possible.

Thanks to all who reviewed!