Author's Note: Doo doo doo. Well, instead of spending more time with my
fics, I've been spending more time with my video games, lol. Ah, don't
worry. It doesn't mean I've forgotten my precious fics. But then again,
me adding this chapter proves it. Well enough jabbering out of me. Read
the chapter. And also review.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
With the sun now shining in Misao's face, the ninja girl looked up at the sky, squinting her eyes as she stared up at the sky. She groaned, not wanting to wake up. Closing her eyes, she rolled in her futon, trying to find a more comfortable position as she lied under the tree.
Wait a minute...the tree!?
Green eyes suddenly shot open as Misao realized what was going on. She wasn't at the Aoiya, she was outside! And it took her a moment to realize she wasn't sleeping on a futon, especially considering she was sleeping sitting up.
A light breeze suddenly blew and Misao felt something brush her face. Still trying to figure out what was going on, Misao glanced to see that it was a lock of brown hair that was brushing against her face. Misao wiped it away.
...Hair!?
Misao's eyes widened. Now she looked around to see what was going on. Her answer came immediately.
Before she took her little nap, Misao had remembered leaning back against the tree and closing her eyes to sleep. And before the chapter was over, the readers of this fic remembered that Misao had her head land on Soujiro's shoulder and use it as a pillow.
But now...it was a little different.
Having maneuvered around in her sleep, Misao found herself in an...interesting position. Resting on her side, Misao found that she was lying against Soujiro, the side of her head resting against his shoulder while she had snuggled against his neck. She lied sprawled against his chest and she felt his arms around her.
Misao's heart seemed to stop and her face started to turn red. Slowly, she removed her head from the shoulder she was lying on and looked at the owner.
Soujiro stared down at her, smiling sheepishly. His arms stayed around her though as he chuckled nervously, his face as red as hers.
"Did you sleep well Misao?" was all that Soujiro was able to say.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
All the way back at the Aoiya, someone else had gotten up from a sleep.
Yahiko walked through the halls of the Aoiya, rubbing a hand to his head as he grumbled to himself. How Kaoru even convinced him to come here he had no idea. He never wanted to come here! He just wanted to stay in Tyoko...spending time with a certain girl.
The son of a samurai groaned. He had such a bad headache. After having been whacked by the bokken crazed Kaoru, a headache soon plagued him, even after he slept last night. Then again...it was kind of hard to fall asleep with a bump on his head that kept pounding. When he did fall asleep, he ended up sleeping through half of the day.
Not finding anything else to do, Yahiko now journeyed through the halls of the Aoiya. From the beginning the visit was going downhill for Yahiko. Being whacked by Misao, knocked out by Kaoru, and now having this headache that didn't seem like it was going away.
Yahiko sighed. He could be training, or talking to Tsubame, anything besides staying here.
"Alright troops, here's the plan."
Yahiko suddenly stopped, one foot still raised as he turned to look at a door to his left. If he wasn't mistaken, he thought that was Kaoru's voice. Walking over to the door, he slid it open a crack before taking a peek at what was going on in the room. What he saw sure surprised and confused him.
Standing in the middle of the room was Kaoru. On the dojo instructor's head was a cap, made out of paper. A stick in hand, she used it to point at certain things on a map that hung from a wall. Sitting in front of her were Okon and Omesu, their own paper caps on their heads as they paid close attention to Kaoru.
"As you see, this is a map of Kyoto," Kaoru continued, pacing in front of the two ninjas.
Yahiko stared at the map. Though it took a few seconds, he realized that it really was a map of Kyoto. Down to every detail...though a bit poorly drawn. He had a feeling that was Kaoru's fault there.
"Misao has to come back here sometime," said Kaoru, hands behind her back as she paced. "And when she does, we'll be ready." Stopping her pacing, Kaoru pointed at a large X that was drawn on the map where the entrance to Kyoto was. Written on top of the X was the word Intercept. "This is where Misao will most likely enter through when she comes back."
Okon and Omesu nodded, paying close attention to the map and Kaoru's orders.
"I want us on roofs of buildings near the surrounding entrance." Kaoru pointed the tip of her stick at two squares that represented houses. This time, circles had been marked over the two buildings. "I want Omesu on the right, and Okon on the left."
"Right," both ninjas acknowledged.
"I'll be in this alley ahead of your positions." Kaoru pointed to the small circle in the space between two houses that was one house away from Okon's designated position. "When Misao comes in, I want you two to spring into action on my signal. I'll come in soon after."
Taking the stick, Kaoru drew three lines, both from the circles and towards the X. She marked a triangle over the X. Obviously she inked the tip of her stick.
"That will make a triangular formation. Misao shouldn't be able to escape. And once we attack," Kaoru made a fist with the hand that held the stick and slammed into the open palm of her other, "we have her. Make sure we take away her weapons this time."
"Yes ma'am!" both Okon and Omesu replied again.
Yahiko could only stare, wondering if everyone but him went insane. Relying on the voice in his head that's saying "Get the hell out of here", Yahiko took a few steps back.
The floor creaked under him.
"What was that?" Kaoru's voice suddenly questioned from within.
Yahiko gulped. No longer trying to leave quietly, he abandoned stealth and ran off.
"It's a spy! Get him!"
Yahiko heard the door violently open and three pairs of feet ran after him.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
"I'm sorry Misao," Soujiro apologized for the hundredth time since the incident.
"How did that happen in the first place!?" asked Misao, still mad about said incident. Crouching near the lake, she gathered some water in her cupped hands and splashed it on her face, trying to get herself more awake and to try to get rid of the heat she felt on her face as the images of her and Soujiro's position continued to appear in her mind.
"Well you were sleeping and...well..." Soujiro trailed off, smiling sheepishly as he shrugged.
Misao groaned to herself. She hit herself on the forehead, cursing herself for going to sleep.
"And how long did that last?"
"An hour...maybe fifteen minutes more."
Misao didn't hear the fifteen minutes more part. When she heard the word hour, she dunked her head into the lake, not wanting to hear anymore. Soujiro waited patiently as Misao kept her head under, air bubbles bubbling forth to the surface. Soujiro had a feeling Misao was doing some cursing underwater.
After about a minute of underwater cursing that thankfully kept this fic G rated, Misao's head soon emerged from the lake. She took some breaths, her face a bit red from the screaming.
"And why didn't you exactly wake me up?" questioned Misao.
"You looked like you needed the nap," replied Soujiro truthfully. "I didn't want to wake you."
"When something like that happens you're supposed to wake the person up!" cried Misao. The ninja girl's head disappeared into the lake again and the air bubbles returned.
Soujiro watched as the ninja girl ranted, though not able to hear her. This was starting to remind him of that time when he had watched over Misao when she was a prisoner of Shishio. When he accidentally walked in on her when she was bathing... Having wondered before, and wondering it now, he never knew a woman's body could be that different from a man's.
Woah woah woah woah!
The former Tenken shook his head, banishing those thoughts from his mind. The redness returned to his face and was silently thankful that Misao was underwater and couldn't see.
But still, he was having trouble getting rid of the thoughts of the recent incident.
The ninja girl looked so peaceful as she slept. And when she rolled and ended up lying against him, he was a bit surprised of how light Misao was. Once he had carried her when she passed out in the maze and when he released her from Shishio, feeling how light she was. And he was still surprised, especially after the year he spent at the Aoiya and having watched Misao eat.
Misao had nice hair as well...er...at least that's what Soujiro thought when Misao's hair had brushed his face. Ah, who are we kidding? He had ran a hand through her dark hair while she had slept a few times.
And there was the part of his arms around her. Though it had been a bit of an embarrassing thing in the end, Soujiro had actually LIKED holding Misao's slim body to his. Her pale skin was quite smooth, and how she had snuggled against him only encouraged those thoughts.
Though Misao didn't seem very happy about the ordeal, Soujiro couldn't help but notice those stray thoughts swimming around in the back of his mind. The thoughts that were basically saying "You want to have that happen again, you want your arms around her again, you want to feel her smooth hair again," etc.
Anyway, time to peek into Misao's thoughts.
The Okashira continued to curse and scream underwater. But that was for two reasons.
One was obviously having been woken up and seeing what her position against Soujiro. Two was actually those thoughts of liking what had happened.
Despite Misao's reaction, the ninja girl had a couple of silent wishes that she hadn't discovered what was going on. She actually wanted to have felt Soujiro's arms around her for a few more seconds while she was still awake. Though she denied it openly, secretly she felt comfortable having been lying against Soujiro. It felt like she actually BELONGED in his arms.
Unfortunately for Misao, with all those thoughts running around in her head, she ended up losing her balance and fell into the lake with a splash. Doing a bit more cursing, she poked her head out of the water, and she didn't look pleased. Turning, she saw Soujiro, smiling as always.
"Not...a word," she warned.
Soujiro only smiled.
Grumbling, Misao stood up and walked back onto solid ground that wasn't in water. The squeezed the water out of her long braid.
"Maybe we should get you a new change of clothes," suggested Soujiro, standing up.
Misao said nothing, only followed him back to Kyoto. With all that has happened, and with the thoughts running around in her mind, she had forgotten about not wanting to go back to Kyoto for a reason.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
Actually there were three reasons that Misao didn't want to go back. And Yahiko was running away from them.
The son of a samurai was sitting in a chest, trying to hear any sounds that would tell him if Okon, Omesu, or if Kaoru was near. He didn't hear anything. Then again, he hadn't heard anything for ten minutes. He was starting to get sore for crouching down so he could fit in this chest for so long.
Figuring that ten minutes was enough, Yahiko slowly opened the lid of the chest a tad. He looked through the slit, scanning the hallway that he was in. No signs of the three. But...he waited ten more minutes just to make sure.
With his legs starting to cramp up, Yahiko now stood up, slowly and quietly. He stretched his sore legs, finally able to move them. Taking another look around in the hallway, he stepped out of the chest.
Yahiko sighed in relief, hearing and seeing no signs of the crazy women. That didn't stop him from being careful. He was still in the Aoiya, aka the three witches' lair. And until he escaped, he was nowhere near safe.
Pressing his back against the wall, Yahiko slowly scooted down the hallway. His heart pounded as stealth became his best friend again. He even thought his breathing was too loud. Probably why he was close to holding his breath as he continued to sneak around.
He suddenly froze, heart pounding in his chest as he looked at the other end of the hallway. Was that a shadow? Had he been found?
There was a full two minutes with Yahiko no longer breathing as he held his breath, sweat rolling down his face. No one appeared. He was alone...but for how long?
Reaching the end of the hallway, Yahiko looked down at the stairs that would lead him to the exit, the door to his freedom. He raised his foot ever so slowly. And even more slowly, if that was even possible, he lowered it onto the first step. He winced when the step creaked under his foot.
There were another couple of minutes full of silence as Yahiko stayed where he was. Taking another breath, he raised his other foot and placed it on a step. Feeling a bit more confident, he went down another step...and another...and another.
Though it felt like an eternity, Yahiko soon found himself taking that final step off the stairs and onto the floor. He looked left and right, taking every detail of the room to account.
And there it was. Heaven's door. The exit!
A giggle suddenly broke through the silence, turning Yahiko's blood into ice. Seeing that his doorway to freedom was so close, he took off running. He made it there much faster then walking down the stairs and he quickly flung open the door.
And almost ran straight into Kaoru.
"Hello Yahiko," greeted Kaoru, grinning evilly.
Yahiko didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say. He just stood there, frozen in place.
He didn't stay there for long though. Before he knew it, Kaoru's fixed bokken suddenly crashed onto his head and instead of freedom, he found himself being greeted by darkness.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- YahYYahohsaufhaffdafdiapojfpidajfpidjakpgjepairjgrpjapyjapdgjadgapjgdpangpda ngo
"He was so close too," said Angel Misao, shaking her head.
"Damn I wish I had a camera," said Devil Misao. "Where's my camera?"
"I just wish I had a camera when Misao was sleeping on Soujiro," said Angel Misao, grinning at the memory.
"You shoulder angels and your lovey dovey stuff," said Devil Soujiro, shaking his head.
"Let's get to the entrance of Kyoto," Angel Soujiro suddenly spoke. "Misao and Soujiro are going there. And I don't want to miss the show!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
Misao had refused to speak during their journey back to Kyoto. Instead, she just kept her mouth shut, her arms crossed over her chest. A couple droplets of water would drip down from her clothing and hair, but otherwise the dripping water was about to stop.
Soujiro got the hint when Misao didn't speak. So he didn't really speak either. However, he noticed that Misao kept glancing at him. He turned to her when she had her eyes on him. Blinking, and a very light tint of pink on her cheeks, Misao quickly turned away.
She didn't know why she was acting like this around Soujiro. She never acted like this before.
She blamed Soujiro for this.
Ever since she met him, ever since she saw that smile, ever since she started to get to know him, she had been changing. When Misao had first met him, all she did was insult him and tried to bash his head open a few times. Now, she was starting to get embarrassed by even looking at him. What the hell was that about!?
It did look like the tables have turned. Soujiro would blame Misao for when he started to change when she was being...her. And Misao was now blaming Soujiro now that she's changing for him being...him.
Sighing, Misao looked back at Soujiro. He only stared forward, the ever lasting smile on his face. For some reason, Misao couldn't help but let a small smile appear on her face.
She wanted to say something. Anything! She didn't want to be silent anymore. She wanted to talk! She wanted him to talk back! She wanted to hear his voice!
The ninja girl opened her mouth.
"NOW!!!"
Misao immediately closed her mouth, her hands flying up and clamping over it. That's not what she wanted to say.
Wait a minute...she didn't say that!
And suddenly, two people suddenly tackled her to the ground.
"Hold her down Omesu!" Okon said.
"I'm trying I'm trying!"
"You two again!?" Misao shouted in disbelief, now struggling against the two ninjas.
A dust cloud formed where the three ninjas were as they fought. Soujiro watched, not sure what to do. He winced when he heard the sound of bones being pounded against bone and yelps of pain.
"Misao you're breaking my arm!" Omesu's voice came from within the dust cloud.
"Only because I can't reach your neck!"
"Okon help!"
"Don't worry I got her!"
"Ow! That's my other arm!"
"Sorry!"
"Ow! She bit me!"
"Misao we got to do something about your nails!"
"They'll look a lot better smeared in your blood!"
"Kaoru!"
"I'm coming I'm coming!"
Running past Soujiro, Kaoru suddenly came into view and dived into the dust cloud. Her yelps of pain soon joined as the fight raged on. Poor Soujiro still didn't know what to do. He didn't even fully grasp what was going on.
But, before he could make a decision, the battle quickly ended. And, like last time, Misao wasn't the victor.
Misao thrashed around on the ground, her arms and legs once again tied up by rope. Okon, Omesu, and Kaoru stood over them, both of them having shared their injuries it looked like.
"I got her kunai!" said Omesu, holding up several of Misao's kunai in her hand.
"We got her!" cried Kaoru.
Cheering, the three woman ran off, dragging a tied up cursing and screaming Misao with them.
Soujiro just watched them leave, a very large sweatdrop on his head. Despite having seen what had happened, he only thought one thing.
'I think all the fish is getting to them.'
Meanwhile...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
"Okay that's it!" shouted Devil Misao. "Where's my camera!? That was a kodak moment right there! No way am I missing anymore of that and not getting it on film!"
The other shoulder devil and the shoulder angels only sighed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
Author's Note: And there we go! A lot more insanity in this chapter definitely. Well, hope you guys enjoyed it! Now review! And oh yeah, KatDrama. I would like to see that picture you were talking about. It sounds interesting to see.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
With the sun now shining in Misao's face, the ninja girl looked up at the sky, squinting her eyes as she stared up at the sky. She groaned, not wanting to wake up. Closing her eyes, she rolled in her futon, trying to find a more comfortable position as she lied under the tree.
Wait a minute...the tree!?
Green eyes suddenly shot open as Misao realized what was going on. She wasn't at the Aoiya, she was outside! And it took her a moment to realize she wasn't sleeping on a futon, especially considering she was sleeping sitting up.
A light breeze suddenly blew and Misao felt something brush her face. Still trying to figure out what was going on, Misao glanced to see that it was a lock of brown hair that was brushing against her face. Misao wiped it away.
...Hair!?
Misao's eyes widened. Now she looked around to see what was going on. Her answer came immediately.
Before she took her little nap, Misao had remembered leaning back against the tree and closing her eyes to sleep. And before the chapter was over, the readers of this fic remembered that Misao had her head land on Soujiro's shoulder and use it as a pillow.
But now...it was a little different.
Having maneuvered around in her sleep, Misao found herself in an...interesting position. Resting on her side, Misao found that she was lying against Soujiro, the side of her head resting against his shoulder while she had snuggled against his neck. She lied sprawled against his chest and she felt his arms around her.
Misao's heart seemed to stop and her face started to turn red. Slowly, she removed her head from the shoulder she was lying on and looked at the owner.
Soujiro stared down at her, smiling sheepishly. His arms stayed around her though as he chuckled nervously, his face as red as hers.
"Did you sleep well Misao?" was all that Soujiro was able to say.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
All the way back at the Aoiya, someone else had gotten up from a sleep.
Yahiko walked through the halls of the Aoiya, rubbing a hand to his head as he grumbled to himself. How Kaoru even convinced him to come here he had no idea. He never wanted to come here! He just wanted to stay in Tyoko...spending time with a certain girl.
The son of a samurai groaned. He had such a bad headache. After having been whacked by the bokken crazed Kaoru, a headache soon plagued him, even after he slept last night. Then again...it was kind of hard to fall asleep with a bump on his head that kept pounding. When he did fall asleep, he ended up sleeping through half of the day.
Not finding anything else to do, Yahiko now journeyed through the halls of the Aoiya. From the beginning the visit was going downhill for Yahiko. Being whacked by Misao, knocked out by Kaoru, and now having this headache that didn't seem like it was going away.
Yahiko sighed. He could be training, or talking to Tsubame, anything besides staying here.
"Alright troops, here's the plan."
Yahiko suddenly stopped, one foot still raised as he turned to look at a door to his left. If he wasn't mistaken, he thought that was Kaoru's voice. Walking over to the door, he slid it open a crack before taking a peek at what was going on in the room. What he saw sure surprised and confused him.
Standing in the middle of the room was Kaoru. On the dojo instructor's head was a cap, made out of paper. A stick in hand, she used it to point at certain things on a map that hung from a wall. Sitting in front of her were Okon and Omesu, their own paper caps on their heads as they paid close attention to Kaoru.
"As you see, this is a map of Kyoto," Kaoru continued, pacing in front of the two ninjas.
Yahiko stared at the map. Though it took a few seconds, he realized that it really was a map of Kyoto. Down to every detail...though a bit poorly drawn. He had a feeling that was Kaoru's fault there.
"Misao has to come back here sometime," said Kaoru, hands behind her back as she paced. "And when she does, we'll be ready." Stopping her pacing, Kaoru pointed at a large X that was drawn on the map where the entrance to Kyoto was. Written on top of the X was the word Intercept. "This is where Misao will most likely enter through when she comes back."
Okon and Omesu nodded, paying close attention to the map and Kaoru's orders.
"I want us on roofs of buildings near the surrounding entrance." Kaoru pointed the tip of her stick at two squares that represented houses. This time, circles had been marked over the two buildings. "I want Omesu on the right, and Okon on the left."
"Right," both ninjas acknowledged.
"I'll be in this alley ahead of your positions." Kaoru pointed to the small circle in the space between two houses that was one house away from Okon's designated position. "When Misao comes in, I want you two to spring into action on my signal. I'll come in soon after."
Taking the stick, Kaoru drew three lines, both from the circles and towards the X. She marked a triangle over the X. Obviously she inked the tip of her stick.
"That will make a triangular formation. Misao shouldn't be able to escape. And once we attack," Kaoru made a fist with the hand that held the stick and slammed into the open palm of her other, "we have her. Make sure we take away her weapons this time."
"Yes ma'am!" both Okon and Omesu replied again.
Yahiko could only stare, wondering if everyone but him went insane. Relying on the voice in his head that's saying "Get the hell out of here", Yahiko took a few steps back.
The floor creaked under him.
"What was that?" Kaoru's voice suddenly questioned from within.
Yahiko gulped. No longer trying to leave quietly, he abandoned stealth and ran off.
"It's a spy! Get him!"
Yahiko heard the door violently open and three pairs of feet ran after him.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
"I'm sorry Misao," Soujiro apologized for the hundredth time since the incident.
"How did that happen in the first place!?" asked Misao, still mad about said incident. Crouching near the lake, she gathered some water in her cupped hands and splashed it on her face, trying to get herself more awake and to try to get rid of the heat she felt on her face as the images of her and Soujiro's position continued to appear in her mind.
"Well you were sleeping and...well..." Soujiro trailed off, smiling sheepishly as he shrugged.
Misao groaned to herself. She hit herself on the forehead, cursing herself for going to sleep.
"And how long did that last?"
"An hour...maybe fifteen minutes more."
Misao didn't hear the fifteen minutes more part. When she heard the word hour, she dunked her head into the lake, not wanting to hear anymore. Soujiro waited patiently as Misao kept her head under, air bubbles bubbling forth to the surface. Soujiro had a feeling Misao was doing some cursing underwater.
After about a minute of underwater cursing that thankfully kept this fic G rated, Misao's head soon emerged from the lake. She took some breaths, her face a bit red from the screaming.
"And why didn't you exactly wake me up?" questioned Misao.
"You looked like you needed the nap," replied Soujiro truthfully. "I didn't want to wake you."
"When something like that happens you're supposed to wake the person up!" cried Misao. The ninja girl's head disappeared into the lake again and the air bubbles returned.
Soujiro watched as the ninja girl ranted, though not able to hear her. This was starting to remind him of that time when he had watched over Misao when she was a prisoner of Shishio. When he accidentally walked in on her when she was bathing... Having wondered before, and wondering it now, he never knew a woman's body could be that different from a man's.
Woah woah woah woah!
The former Tenken shook his head, banishing those thoughts from his mind. The redness returned to his face and was silently thankful that Misao was underwater and couldn't see.
But still, he was having trouble getting rid of the thoughts of the recent incident.
The ninja girl looked so peaceful as she slept. And when she rolled and ended up lying against him, he was a bit surprised of how light Misao was. Once he had carried her when she passed out in the maze and when he released her from Shishio, feeling how light she was. And he was still surprised, especially after the year he spent at the Aoiya and having watched Misao eat.
Misao had nice hair as well...er...at least that's what Soujiro thought when Misao's hair had brushed his face. Ah, who are we kidding? He had ran a hand through her dark hair while she had slept a few times.
And there was the part of his arms around her. Though it had been a bit of an embarrassing thing in the end, Soujiro had actually LIKED holding Misao's slim body to his. Her pale skin was quite smooth, and how she had snuggled against him only encouraged those thoughts.
Though Misao didn't seem very happy about the ordeal, Soujiro couldn't help but notice those stray thoughts swimming around in the back of his mind. The thoughts that were basically saying "You want to have that happen again, you want your arms around her again, you want to feel her smooth hair again," etc.
Anyway, time to peek into Misao's thoughts.
The Okashira continued to curse and scream underwater. But that was for two reasons.
One was obviously having been woken up and seeing what her position against Soujiro. Two was actually those thoughts of liking what had happened.
Despite Misao's reaction, the ninja girl had a couple of silent wishes that she hadn't discovered what was going on. She actually wanted to have felt Soujiro's arms around her for a few more seconds while she was still awake. Though she denied it openly, secretly she felt comfortable having been lying against Soujiro. It felt like she actually BELONGED in his arms.
Unfortunately for Misao, with all those thoughts running around in her head, she ended up losing her balance and fell into the lake with a splash. Doing a bit more cursing, she poked her head out of the water, and she didn't look pleased. Turning, she saw Soujiro, smiling as always.
"Not...a word," she warned.
Soujiro only smiled.
Grumbling, Misao stood up and walked back onto solid ground that wasn't in water. The squeezed the water out of her long braid.
"Maybe we should get you a new change of clothes," suggested Soujiro, standing up.
Misao said nothing, only followed him back to Kyoto. With all that has happened, and with the thoughts running around in her mind, she had forgotten about not wanting to go back to Kyoto for a reason.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
Actually there were three reasons that Misao didn't want to go back. And Yahiko was running away from them.
The son of a samurai was sitting in a chest, trying to hear any sounds that would tell him if Okon, Omesu, or if Kaoru was near. He didn't hear anything. Then again, he hadn't heard anything for ten minutes. He was starting to get sore for crouching down so he could fit in this chest for so long.
Figuring that ten minutes was enough, Yahiko slowly opened the lid of the chest a tad. He looked through the slit, scanning the hallway that he was in. No signs of the three. But...he waited ten more minutes just to make sure.
With his legs starting to cramp up, Yahiko now stood up, slowly and quietly. He stretched his sore legs, finally able to move them. Taking another look around in the hallway, he stepped out of the chest.
Yahiko sighed in relief, hearing and seeing no signs of the crazy women. That didn't stop him from being careful. He was still in the Aoiya, aka the three witches' lair. And until he escaped, he was nowhere near safe.
Pressing his back against the wall, Yahiko slowly scooted down the hallway. His heart pounded as stealth became his best friend again. He even thought his breathing was too loud. Probably why he was close to holding his breath as he continued to sneak around.
He suddenly froze, heart pounding in his chest as he looked at the other end of the hallway. Was that a shadow? Had he been found?
There was a full two minutes with Yahiko no longer breathing as he held his breath, sweat rolling down his face. No one appeared. He was alone...but for how long?
Reaching the end of the hallway, Yahiko looked down at the stairs that would lead him to the exit, the door to his freedom. He raised his foot ever so slowly. And even more slowly, if that was even possible, he lowered it onto the first step. He winced when the step creaked under his foot.
There were another couple of minutes full of silence as Yahiko stayed where he was. Taking another breath, he raised his other foot and placed it on a step. Feeling a bit more confident, he went down another step...and another...and another.
Though it felt like an eternity, Yahiko soon found himself taking that final step off the stairs and onto the floor. He looked left and right, taking every detail of the room to account.
And there it was. Heaven's door. The exit!
A giggle suddenly broke through the silence, turning Yahiko's blood into ice. Seeing that his doorway to freedom was so close, he took off running. He made it there much faster then walking down the stairs and he quickly flung open the door.
And almost ran straight into Kaoru.
"Hello Yahiko," greeted Kaoru, grinning evilly.
Yahiko didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say. He just stood there, frozen in place.
He didn't stay there for long though. Before he knew it, Kaoru's fixed bokken suddenly crashed onto his head and instead of freedom, he found himself being greeted by darkness.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- YahYYahohsaufhaffdafdiapojfpidajfpidjakpgjepairjgrpjapyjapdgjadgapjgdpangpda ngo
"He was so close too," said Angel Misao, shaking her head.
"Damn I wish I had a camera," said Devil Misao. "Where's my camera?"
"I just wish I had a camera when Misao was sleeping on Soujiro," said Angel Misao, grinning at the memory.
"You shoulder angels and your lovey dovey stuff," said Devil Soujiro, shaking his head.
"Let's get to the entrance of Kyoto," Angel Soujiro suddenly spoke. "Misao and Soujiro are going there. And I don't want to miss the show!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
Misao had refused to speak during their journey back to Kyoto. Instead, she just kept her mouth shut, her arms crossed over her chest. A couple droplets of water would drip down from her clothing and hair, but otherwise the dripping water was about to stop.
Soujiro got the hint when Misao didn't speak. So he didn't really speak either. However, he noticed that Misao kept glancing at him. He turned to her when she had her eyes on him. Blinking, and a very light tint of pink on her cheeks, Misao quickly turned away.
She didn't know why she was acting like this around Soujiro. She never acted like this before.
She blamed Soujiro for this.
Ever since she met him, ever since she saw that smile, ever since she started to get to know him, she had been changing. When Misao had first met him, all she did was insult him and tried to bash his head open a few times. Now, she was starting to get embarrassed by even looking at him. What the hell was that about!?
It did look like the tables have turned. Soujiro would blame Misao for when he started to change when she was being...her. And Misao was now blaming Soujiro now that she's changing for him being...him.
Sighing, Misao looked back at Soujiro. He only stared forward, the ever lasting smile on his face. For some reason, Misao couldn't help but let a small smile appear on her face.
She wanted to say something. Anything! She didn't want to be silent anymore. She wanted to talk! She wanted him to talk back! She wanted to hear his voice!
The ninja girl opened her mouth.
"NOW!!!"
Misao immediately closed her mouth, her hands flying up and clamping over it. That's not what she wanted to say.
Wait a minute...she didn't say that!
And suddenly, two people suddenly tackled her to the ground.
"Hold her down Omesu!" Okon said.
"I'm trying I'm trying!"
"You two again!?" Misao shouted in disbelief, now struggling against the two ninjas.
A dust cloud formed where the three ninjas were as they fought. Soujiro watched, not sure what to do. He winced when he heard the sound of bones being pounded against bone and yelps of pain.
"Misao you're breaking my arm!" Omesu's voice came from within the dust cloud.
"Only because I can't reach your neck!"
"Okon help!"
"Don't worry I got her!"
"Ow! That's my other arm!"
"Sorry!"
"Ow! She bit me!"
"Misao we got to do something about your nails!"
"They'll look a lot better smeared in your blood!"
"Kaoru!"
"I'm coming I'm coming!"
Running past Soujiro, Kaoru suddenly came into view and dived into the dust cloud. Her yelps of pain soon joined as the fight raged on. Poor Soujiro still didn't know what to do. He didn't even fully grasp what was going on.
But, before he could make a decision, the battle quickly ended. And, like last time, Misao wasn't the victor.
Misao thrashed around on the ground, her arms and legs once again tied up by rope. Okon, Omesu, and Kaoru stood over them, both of them having shared their injuries it looked like.
"I got her kunai!" said Omesu, holding up several of Misao's kunai in her hand.
"We got her!" cried Kaoru.
Cheering, the three woman ran off, dragging a tied up cursing and screaming Misao with them.
Soujiro just watched them leave, a very large sweatdrop on his head. Despite having seen what had happened, he only thought one thing.
'I think all the fish is getting to them.'
Meanwhile...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
"Okay that's it!" shouted Devil Misao. "Where's my camera!? That was a kodak moment right there! No way am I missing anymore of that and not getting it on film!"
The other shoulder devil and the shoulder angels only sighed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
Author's Note: And there we go! A lot more insanity in this chapter definitely. Well, hope you guys enjoyed it! Now review! And oh yeah, KatDrama. I would like to see that picture you were talking about. It sounds interesting to see.
