Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. You probably don't own Rurouni Kenshin. My dog does not own Rurouni Kenshin. Actually, I don't have a dog.

Personally, I don't want one either. It's a waste of time and ESPECIALLY money.

XXXXX

Day 7 Misao rummages through Hiko's stuffs. Yes, I said stuffs. I like the word stuffs. Even thought it's not REALLY a word. Well, it sort of it . . . kind of . . . never mind.

He hadn't tried to move. He hadn't tried to push or wake Misao up. He let her sleep.

For some odd reason, Aoshi enjoyed having Misao sleeping next to him. In the same futon. Under one blanket.

Okay, so maybe "enjoyed" wasn't the right word.

Misao woke up, gave Aoshi a headache by apologizing so much for keeping him from moving, saying that she wouldn't have minded if he woke her up, and went back to sleep.

His body was sore all over. The Kuzuryuusen was one heck of an attack. Meditating helped get Aoshi's mind off that though. This went on for a few hours. Aoshi stomach grumbled a little. He looked up. The sun was high up; it was probably around noon.

Aoshi hoped Misao would bring him lunch.

You lazy bum! Get your own lunch!

'Again?'

Duh.

'Can't you go on vacation or something?'

Hm, vacation sounds nice . . . Nah.

'I hate you.'

Gasp. I never would've guessed.

"Aoshi-sama!!!!!!!"

Misao ran into the clearing, panting like mad. "Aoshi-sama, the old geezer just went down the mountain to get more sake! This is our chance!"

Aoshi stared. He'd been staring a lot lately. "'Chance'?"

Misao nodded vigorously. "Yeah! We can look through his stuff now! Maybe we could blackmail him! Or at least find my kunai!"

". . . 'We'?"

"Well . . . yeah! You're curious too, aren't you?"

". . ."

"Of course you are! Come on!" Misao turned and gestured for Aoshi to follow before running back.

'What about lunch?'

Aoshi shook his head. There was probably something to eat back at the hut anyway. He got up and followed Misao into the woods.

Misao was already way ahead of Aoshi. She dashed madly inside and began searching through the shelves and drawers.

She froze, seeing certain object leaning against the walls.

Aoshi's kodachis.

"He didn't take them with him . . ." Misao breathed. She smiled softly.

The soft smile turned into a wicked grin as she started to search the hut again.

She came to one drawer where she found a small white bag.

"What's this? It looks like medicine . . ."

On closer inspection, Misao realized it was just something that had been thrown together by different plants and leaves.

"Cheap crud . . ." she muttered. She put it back inside the drawer.

"Misao?"

"Huh . . . ? Oh, Aoshi-sama, just in time! Can you help me look for my kunai?"

"Aa."

Misao continued opening and closing the drawers. She opened one and the first thing that caught her eye, and Aoshi's, were some paper origami's. She froze. She knew Aoshi made them, but . . .

"Who knew Hiko had something like this? He's good . . ." Misao lied.

". . . Aa."

The continued leafing through Hiko's stuff.

"A – Aoshi-sama?"

"Yes?"

". . . You made these . . . didn't you?"

". . . Aa."

Misao smiled. "I never would've thought you still knew how. You didn't make them for . . . 8 years . . ."

'I would never forget, Misao,' Aoshi thought.

Misao eyes widened. "Aoshi-sama, I think the floor's broken."

"What?"

"I mean – The place wear you just stepped . . ."

Aoshi was way ahead of her. He lifted the floorboard and reached inside.

"Well?" Misao asked.

"Your kunai," said Aoshi. He tossed a case/bag thing over to Misao. She grinned triumphantly.

"Yes! Hey Aoshi-sama, is anything else in there?"

"No," Aoshi replied, closing the hole.

Misao sighed. "Well, I didn't find anything embarrassing . . . Any luck?"

"No."

Misao looked over to the kodachis on the wall. "You didn't take them."

Aoshi didn't reply.

"Aoshi-sama? I'm hungry. Do you know if there's anything to eat?"

"No."

"Ooh! What about those?" Misao suggested, pointing at the fishing poles.

Aoshi groaned inwardly and shrugged. Well, it was more like a shoulder twitch.

"Why don't we go fishing?"

". . . Sure."

Later on, Misao and Aoshi were walking toward the stream. Misao smiled brightly, enjoying . . . nature.

"Have you ever fished before, Aoshi-sama?"

". . ."

"Oh! Um . . . yeah . . . of course you did . . ."

". . ."

"Is it fun Aoshi-sama?"

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

". . . We're here."

"Huh? Oh, cool!"

Misao explored around while Aoshi prepared the rods.

"You know, I always thought that the last day here would be the worst, but it's like having a vacation!" Misao said. "At someone else's expense, too!" she added.

Aoshi handed Misao a rod. He showed her how to . . . do the fishing part.

"Now what?" Misao asked. Aoshi sighed and sat down.

"We wait."

After a good twenty minutes of nothing biting – except for some algae – Misao snapped.

"This is boooorrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnngg!!"

". . ."

"Aoshi-sama, did you bring your kodachis?"

"No."

Misao groaned and stuck her rod into the ground. She nestled herself against a tree. In a few minutes she fell asleep.

Aoshi new he had to stay awake in case a one of them hooked something. So he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited some more until something began pulling on Misao's line. She jolted awake when she felt the rod being pulled. "Wha . . . Ooh! I got a bite!"

Misao pulled on the rod. "Wow! It's gotta be huge!"

She pulled harder, so much that Aoshi was afraid that rod would brake too.

Then, one final yank did the trick.

It was the smallest fish Aoshi ever saw in his entire life.

"This dinky thing actually counts as a fish!?" Misao exclaimed. Aoshi fought back laughter.

Misao threw the fish back. "This stinks . . ."

She began to lie back down when she sprang up. "Ow! What did I . . . My kunai! Hey, Aoshi-sama, do you think we could catch fish with this?"

"I suppose . . ." Aoshi started.

"Sweet! I'm gonna try!"

"Misao –."

Kansatsu Tobi-kunai Kawasemi no hashi!

A kunai flew into the water. Misao watched intently. If you can't imagine what I'm trying to describe, think of Ash Ketchum when he's watching a Pokeball at a capture attempt. It's kind of like that.

"Do you . . . think I caught one?"

"Go see."

"I don't . . . see any blood . . ."

Regardless, Misao removed her shoes/sandals and waded out into the water. She reached and felt around the stream. Her face brightened and she lifted a fish into the air in success.

"Oh yeah! I'm the best! Just one more to go!" she cheered.

Misao must've been lucky the first time, because it took her six more times to catch another fish; and it wasn't even as big as the first one.

"Aoshi-sama, I think we should eat somewhere besides at that geezer's place. If he shows up, he'll ruin everything! Why don't we have a picnic? We can hike up to a nice spot and eat there," Misao suggested.

She watched Aoshi intently.

"That . . . sounds nice."

X

Hiko put down the sake bottles on the floor.

'Where'd those two go?'

He considered that they ditched and went back home. Nah, the fishing poles were missing and their stuff was still there.

A blanket, for a lack of a better term, was missing.

Hiko smirked at the sight of Aoshi's kodachis against the wall.

'So it's been resolved . . .'

He shook the thought off and started to put the sake away. He paused midway. The fishing poles were gone. Why didn't Aoshi take his kodachis? They were bound to try and find some way to catch the fish . . .

Hiko checked the loose floorboard. Misao's kunai were gone.

He shrugged. Why did he care? It was the last day anyway. All he could do was sit here and wait for them.

It was time to put the newly bought sake to use.

X

Misao grinned. While getting the blanket back at the hut she had snatched one of the remaining sake bottles. They brought some other food like bread and rice (Misao guessed Aoshi got some tea) but for the most part, they were having fish for lunch. Misao was starting to get sick of it. When she got back home tomorrow, she'd have a feast on tofu and beef and pork and maybe even chicken. Right after a long bath, of course.

Misao knew that she'd have to hurry if she wanted to freshen up before Aoshi. She could just dash madly to the bathhouse as soon as she got back. Nah, Okina and the others would want details.

She then wondered if Okon had told the others about their little encounter. Either way was likely.

Misao was so deep in thought that she almost tripped over a fallen tree branch. She stumbled a little but caught herself.

"Are you alright?" Aoshi asked.

"Huh? Oh fine . . ." Misao blushed madly for her clumsiness.

"You should be more careful."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'll be careful."

They walked uphill for a few minutes. Misao was surprised at her exhaustion. Then again, was it really so surprising? The last time she traveled something anything remotely like this was when she was looking for Aoshi. That was a long time ago, too.

She looked over to Aoshi. It was irony . . . she spends years searching for him . . . yet in some freak coincidence she "runs" into him.

Then again, if Misao hadn't been searching for him, she never would've run into Kenshin. She frowned, remember EXACTLY how she met Kenshin. Misao was just glad that Aoshi never asked about it.

Misao looked around. "Aoshi-sama, I think there's a clearing over there."

She hurried ahead to get a better look. "Wow . . . It's such a great view!"

Aoshi came up behind her.

"It's perfect . . . You can see everything from up here!" Misao went on.

It was a nice, scenic place. Stone peeked out of the earth and you could see well . . . stuff you see when you're way up high. Misao unfolded the blanket and tried to lay it out on the ground. She was having a little trouble getting it to be flat though. She tried several times; once she ended up covering herself.

Aoshi had to admit, this was pretty funny. Eventually, Misao gave up and laid the blanket by straitening it out.

"I'll get some wood," she said, and hurried back into the forest. She came back later with some sticks and twigs and stuffs.

They started a fire and cooked the fish. This is when Misao decided to pull out the sake.

She grinned. "Sake Aoshi-sama?"

". . . Why did you take that?"

"To drink it."

"Misao."

"Oh alright . . ."

Aoshi extended his hand out. "Give it to me."

"Why? So you can drink it?"

"To keep you from drinking it."

Misao reluctantly gave the sake bottle to Aoshi.

'Besides, it's too early for you to be drunk,' Aoshi thought.

They ate their lunch in silence; it was driving Misao crazy. She needed to say something. Normally, she would be talking about something stupid Shiro did or a knew joke that she heard.

She did not hear any jokes.

Shiro didn't do anything stupid lately that Misao knew of.

. . . Crap.

'Maybe I can think of a joke . . .' she thought. 'No . . . I'm not good at that . . .'

Misao furrowed her eyebrows in thought. She needed to talk about something.

Aoshi blinked. Why was Misao . . . thinking? Er, rather, why was Misao thinking so hard?

"How's the fish?" she blurted out.

"Fine . . ."

'BAKA MISAO!! ARGH! 'How's the fish'!?!?!? What is that!?!?'

"That's nice . . ."

X

Aoshi and Misao weren't able to get back to Hiko's hut, so they camped out that night.

X

"Why can't I have sake?"

"Okina will notice if you get a hangover. I thought you didn't want him to find out."

"I don't . . . but . . . Just one sip?"

"No Misao."

"Fine, fine."

Misao gazed at the moon.

"It's so pretty," Misao beamed. "Just think, Aoshi-sama! Tonight's the last night on the mountain! No more sake hermit!"

Misao began dancing around. She laughed. "No more sake hermit!" she cheered.

She was so happy that she didn't notice Aoshi's smile.

XXXXX

ARGH! This chapter was only like nine and a half pages. Whatever, today wasn't really important.

Actually, I wanted it to be really funny, but I decided to have fun with some AoshixMisao action.

. . . Sigh . . .

Today I asked my brother if he thought I was like Misao. He said no, but my dad said . . .

"If you're like Misao, then do you have an Aoshi figure?"

It took me a minute to get what he said. Then I hit him with a pillow.

Yeah, so . . . tomorrow's the epilogue, then on to the sequel . . . Yayness.