Author's Note: Ah, back to fic working. So, with Misao having been drunk,
having kissed Soujiro, and followed up with a confession, what will our
confused former Tenken do now? Well...hey why am I going to tell you!? You
know the drill! Read the chapter!
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The first thing Misao woke up to was an explosion of pain. Squeezing her eyes shut, Misao buried her face into the pillow of her futon, her head throbbing with pain.
"Ugh...what happened?" Misao was able to groan out. The ninja girl tried to remember what had happened, except the memories of last night were so hazy. It was also making her head hurt worse.
Groaning in pain, Misao waited for the throbbing in her head to calm down. When it did, she slowly sat up, a hand to her head. Opening one eye, she looked down to see that she wasn't wearing her ninja outfit. Instead, she was just wearing a simple yukata and her hair was no longer in its usual braid, now cascading down past her shoulders.
Misao closed her eye as the throbbing in her head spiked a little before settling down again. She remembered that she was wearing her ninja outfit last night. Had she changed into the yukata or had someone else changed her clothing? Right now Misao didn't want to think, it was making her head hurt.
That was when the door to the room slid open and out popped in Kaoru.
"Good morning Misao!" she greeted cheerily.
The throbbing returned once again as Kaoru's loud greeting reached Misao's ears. She dropped her head back on the pillow, earning another blast of pain. Misao's eyes were sealed shut as she held her head, curling into a ball as she tried not to whimper. It felt like her head was split open.
Seeing the pain that she had just brought to the ninja girl, Kaoru's eyes widened in alarm before her hands shot up and clasped over her mouth. Waiting a few seconds, she slowly brought down her hands.
"Right, sorry," she apologized, a lot quieter.
Misao didn't reply for a moment, trying to make the pain in her head go away with sheer will. Kaoru slowly walked over and sat beside Misao. Finally, the young Okashira opened one eye and stared at the Kamiya dojo instructor with it.
"What happened?" Misao finally asked.
Kaoru held a finger to her chin as she thought. "Where to start..."
Misao only stared at Kaoru, wincing when the throbbing in her head would suddenly spike again.
"Well after we let you go," started Kaoru, "you went to a restaurant to let off some steam I guess." She shrugged. "Then Soujiro suddenly comes back with you passed out."
"Soujiro?" Misao tried to remember, trying to get pass the haze that blocked her memories.
"Yeah. I didn't get much of the details but all he said was that you were drunk."
Drunk?
Bits and pieces of last night started coming back to Misao. She remembered having been at a restaurant. Then felt light headed...three men...Soujiro. Misao tried to remember, biting back a cry of pain as the thinking was starting up the pounding in her head again.
"Soujiro seemed to have made a quick stop at the bathhouse first. You were soaked. So then he just handed you to Okon and Omesu, saying that they should change you into dry clothes and get you to bed. He went to his room after that."
Bathhouse? Misao winced as she tried to remember. She remembered being dumped in cold water then...she didn't know what else. Everything else just seemed like a complete blank.
The ninja girl slowly got up, holding a hand to her still slightly throbbing head. This was already starting to not becoming a good day. She couldn't remember some of what had happened last night, and she was having a very bad headache.
"Why would I want any alcohol?" Misao thought aloud, her head hurting too much to think it.
Kaoru only shrugged. "I don't know. You sure looked drunk though." She paused. "Sure looks like you're having a hangover too."
"I hate this." Misao groaned painfully again. "Feels like my head split open. That's the last time I drink again."
"You weren't supposed to drink anyway Misao. You're under aged."
"What you think I drank it on purpose."
"Well, something happened that got you drunk."
Misao would've argued if she wanted to. But another wave of pain broke off whatever she was going to say. Instead she only lied back on her futon, trying to shove the pain away with her own will.
"So...I guess you'll just try to go to sleep."
Misao just said nothing.
Taking that as her cue to leave, Kaoru stood up before moving to the still opened door. Taking one more glance at Misao, she soon walked out, closing the door behind her.
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Somewhere in the Aoiya, another person was waking up with a large headache.
Yahiko finally woke up after a long time. He immediately winced when he felt the throbbing of his head. Reaching up, he quickly felt the large bump on his head where Kaoru had hit him with her bokken. Cursing, he stood up.
"Get back here!"
"No way you crazy shoulder angel!"
Yahiko blinked, having suddenly heard voices. Turning around, he stared at the closed door of the room that he had been stashed into by, who he guessed, Omesu, Okon, and Kaoru. The son of a samurai couldn't help but question their sanity as he thought about them.
CRASH
"Watch where you're waving that thing!"
"Shut up and get over here!"
You'd think Yahiko would learn from his experience last time. But nnnooo. His curiosity got the better of him, again.
He took caution though. Almost in a crouch, he slowly walked to the door of the room. Reaching it, he started sliding it opening it real slowly.
And something suddenly smacked into his face and hung onto it.
Yahiko's cry of surprise was muffled as he fell onto his butt.
"Stay away from me psycho!" the thing that hung onto his face shouted.
"Take this!"
"Yikes!"
And before Yahiko could grab the thing on his face, it suddenly let go and took off. Now, Yahiko was able to see something else in front of him. The strange thing was...was that the thing looked like a mini version of Misao. The mini Misao had wings and wore white robes. And, if Yahiko wasn't seeing anything, there was a halo hovering over her head.
She looked angry too, waving a harp in her hand.
And that harp suddenly smashed onto Yahiko's head.
For the second time, Yahiko was soon knocked out.
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"You knocked him out," said Angel Soujiro.
"Ah, he's fine," assured Angel Misao. "Barely felt anything either. It was a quick blow to the head."
"A hard and painful blow," added Devil Misao.
"Nobody asked you for details."
"Maybe we should've tried to get Yahiko not to come after all..." muttered Angel Soujiro.
"What?" questioned Devil Misao. "And miss all the fun?"
Angel Soujiro sighed, shaking his head. He looked back up at Angel Misao. "What did you do with Devil Soujiro anyway?"
"Oh don't worry about him," assured Angel Misao.
Meanwhile...
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"Hey Suzume look what I found!" Ayame suddenly spoke happily, waving something in her hand.
"What is it what is it?" asked Suzume, almost bouncing on her feet.
"It's a doll. And it looks like Sou-ni!"
"Sou-ni!"
Ayame looked at the 'Sou-ni' doll in her hand. She suddenly looked sad. "Aw...he has boo boos."
"We can fix him!" Suzume cried happily.
"Yeah! Maybe we can dress him up too!"
Poor Devil Soujiro was only able to whimper, knowing that his doom was near.
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"...You are so cruel," said Angel Soujiro.
Angel Misao only smiled innocently.
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Speaking of poor, poor Misao wasn't having that good of a day either. The headache she had just refused to go away. She had tried to get some sleep and succeeded...before she woke up an hour later with another explosion of pain.
Misao would've cried if she wasn't that stubborn. But she refused! Sure it hurt, but who cares? She's stronger then that! She's not crying over a stupid headache!
Pain soon rocked her mind again, as if challenging her. The ninja girl gritted her teeth, trying to shove the pain away. Damn alcohol! Who invented the stupid stuff anyway!? You'd think after pain like this they would learn.
The door slid open but Misao didn't bother to look up. Probably Kaoru again.
"Hello Misao."
Misao blinked. That wasn't Kaoru.
Sensing the visitor kneel down beside her, Misao turned her head to see who it was. She had an idea who it was though. The voice was a give away, and she soon saw the blue gi. Looking up, she soon saw the smiling face of Soujiro.
"Oh. Hello Soujiro."
"Thought you might be hungry." Soujiro placed a tray with a few rice balls on it (He had decided to not serve fish this time, mostly because of yesterday's incidents).
Misao smiled a little at the former Tenken. He always seemed to make her feel a bit better, even if he was just there and talking to her. The scent of the rice balls caused Misao's stomach to suddenly growl. Despite whatever headache she may have, her stomach would always get the better of it.
With a supporting hand from Soujiro, Misao was able to sit up. The former Tenken held the ninja girl a rice ball and she took it, quickly biting into it the second she had it. Soujiro only smiled like always, taking his own rice ball and eat it, staring at Misao as he ate.
'She should have her hair down more often,' he suddenly thought, noticing that Misao's hair wasn't in the normal braid. Despite how tangled it was, Soujiro couldn't help but think that she looked more beautiful like that.
...Wait a minute.
Soujiro suddenly felt the heat on his face again. He shook his head. Why was he having these thoughts?
He had known that Misao had been an effect on him, ever since he had met her when she was a prisoner of Shishio. But maybe she's more of an effect then he thought...
It was because of last night.
Soujiro had a hard time going to sleep that night. Thoughts of what had happened would keep him awake. And when he did go to sleep, he would be plagued with dreams of Misao's kiss and confession.
Ah, it wasn't that bad. But then there was that problem of him untying the usual bow from around Misao's waist that held her ninja outfit secure in the dream and-
Alrighty then! Moving on.
Anyway, to avoid more of those dreams, he had decided to stay up for the rest of the night. It wasn't that difficult. Despite the year of being a Rurouni, his skills were still as sharp as ever. Sometimes he would end up staying up for five straight days while he was on a mission for Shishio.
But still, even when he was awake, he would still be troubled. She had said that she loved him. Was that really true or...was it not? Though Soujiro would've thought it was just the alcohol, there was one fact that always steered him the other way.
Alcohol was like a truth serum, Soujiro would know. Sometimes, if he needed some information gathering, he would get his targets drunk so that they would blab out the information he needed...and then he would end up killing them later on. Once or twice, even he had sometimes gotten drunk and Shishio would test him to see if he can control himself from revealing information.
So did Misao really love him? More important, did he love her?
"Soujiro, are you okay?"
Soujiro was pulled out of his thoughts. Looking up, he saw Misao looking at him, almost a little concerned at him.
"I'm okay Misao," he replied, smiling. "I was just thinking about things."
Misao only nodded, picking up her fifth rice ball and biting into it. Having not eating yesterday, she was starved. But even as she ate, she looked up as Soujiro seemed to be lost in thought once again.
Speaking of thinking...
"Soujiro?" she spoke again.
Soujiro looked back up at her. "Hm?"
"What happened last night?"
Soujiro's eyebrows raised a little. "You mean you don't remember?"
"No I don't. Everything is such a blank to me."
Soujiro couldn't help but mentally sigh in relief. "Nothing really happened Misao."
Misao stared at him. "I want to know what happened."
Soujiro couldn't help but let his smile grow on his face. She was such a stubborn girl. Probably why he cared so much about her.
"Well to make a long story short, here it is. You went to a restaurant, and somehow you got drunk."
Misao grimaced. "Yeah I kind of figured that part out."
"Well when I got there, three men were gracious enough to give you some company. But I convinced them that you needed to get back to the Aoiya."
The ninja girl thought she saw something flicker within the former Tenken's blue eyes. And, surprisingly, she couldn't help but feel a shiver run down her spine. She remembered seeing that flicker, back when he was still the Tenken.
"And?"
"And then I just gave you quick cold bath before handing you over to Okon and Omesu."
Misao seemed to narrow her eyes at him, giving him a searching look. "And nothing else happened?"
If there had been any sign that he was lying, she couldn't find it.
"No Misao, nothing happened."
Though he showed no signs, which what the former Tenken was, and probably still is, a master of, Misao still couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened last night. And she was going to find out. But right now, all she did was eat her food while sending some glances to Soujiro.
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Angel Soujiro couldn't help but smile. All was going according to plan. Thankfully, it didn't look like Soujiro and Misao were getting together today. But tomorrow they will! And why tomorrow?
Because tomorrow was the festival.
"Well you look happy," said Angel Misao, flying over to Angel Soujiro before landing next to him.
"How can I not be happy?" he questioned, a smile on his face. "Devil Soujiro had a chance to get the two together before the festival, but it didn't work! Instead, he just made it a better chance of me winning the bet!"
Angel Misao raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh?"
"Well because Devil Soujiro made Misao drunk and because of what happened last night, he practically got them prepared to admit that they love each other tomorrow at the festival!" He looked at Angel Misao. "Oh yeah, did you get a look at the kimono?"
The female shoulder angel nodded. "Yeah. I have to admit, it looks pretty good. Misao will definitely look beautiful in it!"
Angel Soujiro's smile widened. "Perfect! This is great!"
"Hey, the day is just getting better."
The two shoulder angels turned to see Devil Misao, her face red as her hands were held over her mouth, trying to keep herself from laughing at whatever it was she saw.
"What's up?" asked Angel Misao.
"It's just...Devil Soujiro...it's just..." That's as far as the shoulder devil got. Because soon she just fell to the floor, clutching her sides as she laughed aloud.
"This is not funny!" shouted, obviously, Devil Soujiro. The shoulder devil stepped out where he was hiding...or more like...hopped out.
Both Angel Misao and Angel Soujiro stared with wide eyes at the shoulder devil.
Poor Devil Soujiro really did have a time with the two sisters. The reason he was hopping because some bandages were wrapped around his legs that were meant to heal his 'boo boos'. Half of his face was hidden in bandages as well. But what must've been worse was the make up on him. Eye shadow, powdered cheeks, the works. And he had even been forced into a kimono. And to make things worse, it was a pretty pink kimono.
Angel Misao and Angel Soujiro just stared at Devil Soujiro. They looked at each other. And then collapsed onto the floor as they laughed hysterically.
"This is not funny! Stop laughing! Hey, give me that camera right now Devil Misao!"
"No way!" Devil Misao was able to say between her laughter.
"Give me that thing now!"
"No!" With that she took off, laughing as she ran.
"Get back here!"
The laughter only continued as Devil Soujiro hopped after Devil Misao, hoping to catch her.
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Night had quickly came that day. And Misao lied on her futon, sleeping peacefully and hoping that her headache would end by tomorrow.
Something suddenly moved from out her window.
Though Misao might've seen the movement, she wasn't able to now. But that was because she was asleep. If she was awake, she would've seen the figure running around outside.
The figure sped through outside, with speed that no one could match. Speeding towards a tree overlooking Misao's window, the figure climbed up it and positioned himself on top of one of the branches before staying there.
It was then that the moon appeared from behind a cloud, shining its light down upon the area.
The moonlight sprayed across the figure's brown hair. It also revealed the blue eyes that stared forward through the window where the sleeping ninja girl was.
Soujiro sat upon the branch of the tree, his legs dangling over the edge as he stared through the window of Misao's room. His gaze was fixed on the sleeping ninja girl as she slept. A smile was on Misao's face as she lied sprawled on her futon, her black hair sprayed around her as her chest rose and fell as she breathed deep and slow breaths while she slept. The moonlight also shined through the window and basked her in moonlight.
And to Soujiro, he couldn't help think that she looked more beautiful then she already was. She almost looked like one of those beautiful elf maidens
Though a smile was on the former Tenkne's face, it wasn't his usual smile. Instead, it was a real smile. And that's what Misao made him do, smile.
That was when he realized the truth. He loved her. The ninja girl that had once been his enemy...he loved. Having spent a year at the Aoiya, his feelings had grown for Misao. And now he loved her.
Unfortunately, this little romantic scene was going to come to an end.
Soujiro suddenly felt something on his back. He shrugged it off, thinking that it may be a leaf or something. That was until he felt the thing crawling.
Blinking, the former Tenken looked over his shoulder.
It was a spider. Not just those small spiders. Those HUGE black spiders. This thing crawled onto Soujiro's shoulder and stared at him with its many eyes.
No one knew this, not even Shishio or Yumi. Though many thought of the Tenken as fearless, there was one thing he was afraid of.
Spiders.
It was probably about what happened several years ago before he met Shishio. During one night when he was sleeping in the warehouse, the younger soon to be Tenken had been awoken when he felt something crawling on him. He soon found his awaker as he spotted a spider crawling on his chest.
It was no big deal, not to Soujiro anyway. The spider was soon squished when he crushed it. Brushing it off to the side, he had went back to sleep.
He only got about an hour of sleep before he was awoken again. He again felt something crawling on him like the spider. Now a bit annoyed, he looked up to squish this newfound annoyance and get back to sleep.
What a surprise he was in.
It was not one spider. But dozens and dozens of small spiders. And they were crawling all over him.
It seemed that the spider from before was the mother. And like any mother spider, it must've had an egg sack. Unfortunately.....that egg sack must've been somewhere near Soujiro's sleeping form.
The poor chibi Soujiro spent the rest of the night running around in the warehouse, brushing furiously at the endless amount of creepy crawlies that were crawling on him.
So the sudden twitch of his smile, his face paling, and the small fear that appeared in his eyes wasn't surprising when he spotted the black spider on his shoulder.
Soujiro held his breath as the spider crawled, making its way towards his face. The former Tenken raised a hand, intending to crush the spider.
And then the spider suddenly disappeared within his gi.
Eyes suddenly widening, Soujiro suddenly stood up on the tree branch, patting himself down quickly as he tried to crush the thing. Unfortunately, all the moving around caused the branch of the tree to suddenly snap. And before Soujiro knew it, he suddenly felt the air rushing up past him as he fell. Before he could grab something to stop his descent, he quickly came crashing to the ground with a loud thud.
And the spider just crawled out of his sleeve and scurried off.
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Author's Note: Well here's another chapter again folks! And tomorrow is the festival! You know what that means? Yep! Soujiro/Misao galore! Oh yeah, BlackHole. Yes I have read Alone in a Crowd. Believe it or not, that's the fic that got me into Soujiro/Misao o.O Anyway, hope to see you guys in the next chapter! And if the ending to this fic was a little rushed...sorry. I'm becoming half asleep over here since it's almost one o clock in the morning. Well, see ya!
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The first thing Misao woke up to was an explosion of pain. Squeezing her eyes shut, Misao buried her face into the pillow of her futon, her head throbbing with pain.
"Ugh...what happened?" Misao was able to groan out. The ninja girl tried to remember what had happened, except the memories of last night were so hazy. It was also making her head hurt worse.
Groaning in pain, Misao waited for the throbbing in her head to calm down. When it did, she slowly sat up, a hand to her head. Opening one eye, she looked down to see that she wasn't wearing her ninja outfit. Instead, she was just wearing a simple yukata and her hair was no longer in its usual braid, now cascading down past her shoulders.
Misao closed her eye as the throbbing in her head spiked a little before settling down again. She remembered that she was wearing her ninja outfit last night. Had she changed into the yukata or had someone else changed her clothing? Right now Misao didn't want to think, it was making her head hurt.
That was when the door to the room slid open and out popped in Kaoru.
"Good morning Misao!" she greeted cheerily.
The throbbing returned once again as Kaoru's loud greeting reached Misao's ears. She dropped her head back on the pillow, earning another blast of pain. Misao's eyes were sealed shut as she held her head, curling into a ball as she tried not to whimper. It felt like her head was split open.
Seeing the pain that she had just brought to the ninja girl, Kaoru's eyes widened in alarm before her hands shot up and clasped over her mouth. Waiting a few seconds, she slowly brought down her hands.
"Right, sorry," she apologized, a lot quieter.
Misao didn't reply for a moment, trying to make the pain in her head go away with sheer will. Kaoru slowly walked over and sat beside Misao. Finally, the young Okashira opened one eye and stared at the Kamiya dojo instructor with it.
"What happened?" Misao finally asked.
Kaoru held a finger to her chin as she thought. "Where to start..."
Misao only stared at Kaoru, wincing when the throbbing in her head would suddenly spike again.
"Well after we let you go," started Kaoru, "you went to a restaurant to let off some steam I guess." She shrugged. "Then Soujiro suddenly comes back with you passed out."
"Soujiro?" Misao tried to remember, trying to get pass the haze that blocked her memories.
"Yeah. I didn't get much of the details but all he said was that you were drunk."
Drunk?
Bits and pieces of last night started coming back to Misao. She remembered having been at a restaurant. Then felt light headed...three men...Soujiro. Misao tried to remember, biting back a cry of pain as the thinking was starting up the pounding in her head again.
"Soujiro seemed to have made a quick stop at the bathhouse first. You were soaked. So then he just handed you to Okon and Omesu, saying that they should change you into dry clothes and get you to bed. He went to his room after that."
Bathhouse? Misao winced as she tried to remember. She remembered being dumped in cold water then...she didn't know what else. Everything else just seemed like a complete blank.
The ninja girl slowly got up, holding a hand to her still slightly throbbing head. This was already starting to not becoming a good day. She couldn't remember some of what had happened last night, and she was having a very bad headache.
"Why would I want any alcohol?" Misao thought aloud, her head hurting too much to think it.
Kaoru only shrugged. "I don't know. You sure looked drunk though." She paused. "Sure looks like you're having a hangover too."
"I hate this." Misao groaned painfully again. "Feels like my head split open. That's the last time I drink again."
"You weren't supposed to drink anyway Misao. You're under aged."
"What you think I drank it on purpose."
"Well, something happened that got you drunk."
Misao would've argued if she wanted to. But another wave of pain broke off whatever she was going to say. Instead she only lied back on her futon, trying to shove the pain away with her own will.
"So...I guess you'll just try to go to sleep."
Misao just said nothing.
Taking that as her cue to leave, Kaoru stood up before moving to the still opened door. Taking one more glance at Misao, she soon walked out, closing the door behind her.
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Somewhere in the Aoiya, another person was waking up with a large headache.
Yahiko finally woke up after a long time. He immediately winced when he felt the throbbing of his head. Reaching up, he quickly felt the large bump on his head where Kaoru had hit him with her bokken. Cursing, he stood up.
"Get back here!"
"No way you crazy shoulder angel!"
Yahiko blinked, having suddenly heard voices. Turning around, he stared at the closed door of the room that he had been stashed into by, who he guessed, Omesu, Okon, and Kaoru. The son of a samurai couldn't help but question their sanity as he thought about them.
CRASH
"Watch where you're waving that thing!"
"Shut up and get over here!"
You'd think Yahiko would learn from his experience last time. But nnnooo. His curiosity got the better of him, again.
He took caution though. Almost in a crouch, he slowly walked to the door of the room. Reaching it, he started sliding it opening it real slowly.
And something suddenly smacked into his face and hung onto it.
Yahiko's cry of surprise was muffled as he fell onto his butt.
"Stay away from me psycho!" the thing that hung onto his face shouted.
"Take this!"
"Yikes!"
And before Yahiko could grab the thing on his face, it suddenly let go and took off. Now, Yahiko was able to see something else in front of him. The strange thing was...was that the thing looked like a mini version of Misao. The mini Misao had wings and wore white robes. And, if Yahiko wasn't seeing anything, there was a halo hovering over her head.
She looked angry too, waving a harp in her hand.
And that harp suddenly smashed onto Yahiko's head.
For the second time, Yahiko was soon knocked out.
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"You knocked him out," said Angel Soujiro.
"Ah, he's fine," assured Angel Misao. "Barely felt anything either. It was a quick blow to the head."
"A hard and painful blow," added Devil Misao.
"Nobody asked you for details."
"Maybe we should've tried to get Yahiko not to come after all..." muttered Angel Soujiro.
"What?" questioned Devil Misao. "And miss all the fun?"
Angel Soujiro sighed, shaking his head. He looked back up at Angel Misao. "What did you do with Devil Soujiro anyway?"
"Oh don't worry about him," assured Angel Misao.
Meanwhile...
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"Hey Suzume look what I found!" Ayame suddenly spoke happily, waving something in her hand.
"What is it what is it?" asked Suzume, almost bouncing on her feet.
"It's a doll. And it looks like Sou-ni!"
"Sou-ni!"
Ayame looked at the 'Sou-ni' doll in her hand. She suddenly looked sad. "Aw...he has boo boos."
"We can fix him!" Suzume cried happily.
"Yeah! Maybe we can dress him up too!"
Poor Devil Soujiro was only able to whimper, knowing that his doom was near.
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"...You are so cruel," said Angel Soujiro.
Angel Misao only smiled innocently.
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Speaking of poor, poor Misao wasn't having that good of a day either. The headache she had just refused to go away. She had tried to get some sleep and succeeded...before she woke up an hour later with another explosion of pain.
Misao would've cried if she wasn't that stubborn. But she refused! Sure it hurt, but who cares? She's stronger then that! She's not crying over a stupid headache!
Pain soon rocked her mind again, as if challenging her. The ninja girl gritted her teeth, trying to shove the pain away. Damn alcohol! Who invented the stupid stuff anyway!? You'd think after pain like this they would learn.
The door slid open but Misao didn't bother to look up. Probably Kaoru again.
"Hello Misao."
Misao blinked. That wasn't Kaoru.
Sensing the visitor kneel down beside her, Misao turned her head to see who it was. She had an idea who it was though. The voice was a give away, and she soon saw the blue gi. Looking up, she soon saw the smiling face of Soujiro.
"Oh. Hello Soujiro."
"Thought you might be hungry." Soujiro placed a tray with a few rice balls on it (He had decided to not serve fish this time, mostly because of yesterday's incidents).
Misao smiled a little at the former Tenken. He always seemed to make her feel a bit better, even if he was just there and talking to her. The scent of the rice balls caused Misao's stomach to suddenly growl. Despite whatever headache she may have, her stomach would always get the better of it.
With a supporting hand from Soujiro, Misao was able to sit up. The former Tenken held the ninja girl a rice ball and she took it, quickly biting into it the second she had it. Soujiro only smiled like always, taking his own rice ball and eat it, staring at Misao as he ate.
'She should have her hair down more often,' he suddenly thought, noticing that Misao's hair wasn't in the normal braid. Despite how tangled it was, Soujiro couldn't help but think that she looked more beautiful like that.
...Wait a minute.
Soujiro suddenly felt the heat on his face again. He shook his head. Why was he having these thoughts?
He had known that Misao had been an effect on him, ever since he had met her when she was a prisoner of Shishio. But maybe she's more of an effect then he thought...
It was because of last night.
Soujiro had a hard time going to sleep that night. Thoughts of what had happened would keep him awake. And when he did go to sleep, he would be plagued with dreams of Misao's kiss and confession.
Ah, it wasn't that bad. But then there was that problem of him untying the usual bow from around Misao's waist that held her ninja outfit secure in the dream and-
Alrighty then! Moving on.
Anyway, to avoid more of those dreams, he had decided to stay up for the rest of the night. It wasn't that difficult. Despite the year of being a Rurouni, his skills were still as sharp as ever. Sometimes he would end up staying up for five straight days while he was on a mission for Shishio.
But still, even when he was awake, he would still be troubled. She had said that she loved him. Was that really true or...was it not? Though Soujiro would've thought it was just the alcohol, there was one fact that always steered him the other way.
Alcohol was like a truth serum, Soujiro would know. Sometimes, if he needed some information gathering, he would get his targets drunk so that they would blab out the information he needed...and then he would end up killing them later on. Once or twice, even he had sometimes gotten drunk and Shishio would test him to see if he can control himself from revealing information.
So did Misao really love him? More important, did he love her?
"Soujiro, are you okay?"
Soujiro was pulled out of his thoughts. Looking up, he saw Misao looking at him, almost a little concerned at him.
"I'm okay Misao," he replied, smiling. "I was just thinking about things."
Misao only nodded, picking up her fifth rice ball and biting into it. Having not eating yesterday, she was starved. But even as she ate, she looked up as Soujiro seemed to be lost in thought once again.
Speaking of thinking...
"Soujiro?" she spoke again.
Soujiro looked back up at her. "Hm?"
"What happened last night?"
Soujiro's eyebrows raised a little. "You mean you don't remember?"
"No I don't. Everything is such a blank to me."
Soujiro couldn't help but mentally sigh in relief. "Nothing really happened Misao."
Misao stared at him. "I want to know what happened."
Soujiro couldn't help but let his smile grow on his face. She was such a stubborn girl. Probably why he cared so much about her.
"Well to make a long story short, here it is. You went to a restaurant, and somehow you got drunk."
Misao grimaced. "Yeah I kind of figured that part out."
"Well when I got there, three men were gracious enough to give you some company. But I convinced them that you needed to get back to the Aoiya."
The ninja girl thought she saw something flicker within the former Tenken's blue eyes. And, surprisingly, she couldn't help but feel a shiver run down her spine. She remembered seeing that flicker, back when he was still the Tenken.
"And?"
"And then I just gave you quick cold bath before handing you over to Okon and Omesu."
Misao seemed to narrow her eyes at him, giving him a searching look. "And nothing else happened?"
If there had been any sign that he was lying, she couldn't find it.
"No Misao, nothing happened."
Though he showed no signs, which what the former Tenken was, and probably still is, a master of, Misao still couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened last night. And she was going to find out. But right now, all she did was eat her food while sending some glances to Soujiro.
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Angel Soujiro couldn't help but smile. All was going according to plan. Thankfully, it didn't look like Soujiro and Misao were getting together today. But tomorrow they will! And why tomorrow?
Because tomorrow was the festival.
"Well you look happy," said Angel Misao, flying over to Angel Soujiro before landing next to him.
"How can I not be happy?" he questioned, a smile on his face. "Devil Soujiro had a chance to get the two together before the festival, but it didn't work! Instead, he just made it a better chance of me winning the bet!"
Angel Misao raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh?"
"Well because Devil Soujiro made Misao drunk and because of what happened last night, he practically got them prepared to admit that they love each other tomorrow at the festival!" He looked at Angel Misao. "Oh yeah, did you get a look at the kimono?"
The female shoulder angel nodded. "Yeah. I have to admit, it looks pretty good. Misao will definitely look beautiful in it!"
Angel Soujiro's smile widened. "Perfect! This is great!"
"Hey, the day is just getting better."
The two shoulder angels turned to see Devil Misao, her face red as her hands were held over her mouth, trying to keep herself from laughing at whatever it was she saw.
"What's up?" asked Angel Misao.
"It's just...Devil Soujiro...it's just..." That's as far as the shoulder devil got. Because soon she just fell to the floor, clutching her sides as she laughed aloud.
"This is not funny!" shouted, obviously, Devil Soujiro. The shoulder devil stepped out where he was hiding...or more like...hopped out.
Both Angel Misao and Angel Soujiro stared with wide eyes at the shoulder devil.
Poor Devil Soujiro really did have a time with the two sisters. The reason he was hopping because some bandages were wrapped around his legs that were meant to heal his 'boo boos'. Half of his face was hidden in bandages as well. But what must've been worse was the make up on him. Eye shadow, powdered cheeks, the works. And he had even been forced into a kimono. And to make things worse, it was a pretty pink kimono.
Angel Misao and Angel Soujiro just stared at Devil Soujiro. They looked at each other. And then collapsed onto the floor as they laughed hysterically.
"This is not funny! Stop laughing! Hey, give me that camera right now Devil Misao!"
"No way!" Devil Misao was able to say between her laughter.
"Give me that thing now!"
"No!" With that she took off, laughing as she ran.
"Get back here!"
The laughter only continued as Devil Soujiro hopped after Devil Misao, hoping to catch her.
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Night had quickly came that day. And Misao lied on her futon, sleeping peacefully and hoping that her headache would end by tomorrow.
Something suddenly moved from out her window.
Though Misao might've seen the movement, she wasn't able to now. But that was because she was asleep. If she was awake, she would've seen the figure running around outside.
The figure sped through outside, with speed that no one could match. Speeding towards a tree overlooking Misao's window, the figure climbed up it and positioned himself on top of one of the branches before staying there.
It was then that the moon appeared from behind a cloud, shining its light down upon the area.
The moonlight sprayed across the figure's brown hair. It also revealed the blue eyes that stared forward through the window where the sleeping ninja girl was.
Soujiro sat upon the branch of the tree, his legs dangling over the edge as he stared through the window of Misao's room. His gaze was fixed on the sleeping ninja girl as she slept. A smile was on Misao's face as she lied sprawled on her futon, her black hair sprayed around her as her chest rose and fell as she breathed deep and slow breaths while she slept. The moonlight also shined through the window and basked her in moonlight.
And to Soujiro, he couldn't help think that she looked more beautiful then she already was. She almost looked like one of those beautiful elf maidens
Though a smile was on the former Tenkne's face, it wasn't his usual smile. Instead, it was a real smile. And that's what Misao made him do, smile.
That was when he realized the truth. He loved her. The ninja girl that had once been his enemy...he loved. Having spent a year at the Aoiya, his feelings had grown for Misao. And now he loved her.
Unfortunately, this little romantic scene was going to come to an end.
Soujiro suddenly felt something on his back. He shrugged it off, thinking that it may be a leaf or something. That was until he felt the thing crawling.
Blinking, the former Tenken looked over his shoulder.
It was a spider. Not just those small spiders. Those HUGE black spiders. This thing crawled onto Soujiro's shoulder and stared at him with its many eyes.
No one knew this, not even Shishio or Yumi. Though many thought of the Tenken as fearless, there was one thing he was afraid of.
Spiders.
It was probably about what happened several years ago before he met Shishio. During one night when he was sleeping in the warehouse, the younger soon to be Tenken had been awoken when he felt something crawling on him. He soon found his awaker as he spotted a spider crawling on his chest.
It was no big deal, not to Soujiro anyway. The spider was soon squished when he crushed it. Brushing it off to the side, he had went back to sleep.
He only got about an hour of sleep before he was awoken again. He again felt something crawling on him like the spider. Now a bit annoyed, he looked up to squish this newfound annoyance and get back to sleep.
What a surprise he was in.
It was not one spider. But dozens and dozens of small spiders. And they were crawling all over him.
It seemed that the spider from before was the mother. And like any mother spider, it must've had an egg sack. Unfortunately.....that egg sack must've been somewhere near Soujiro's sleeping form.
The poor chibi Soujiro spent the rest of the night running around in the warehouse, brushing furiously at the endless amount of creepy crawlies that were crawling on him.
So the sudden twitch of his smile, his face paling, and the small fear that appeared in his eyes wasn't surprising when he spotted the black spider on his shoulder.
Soujiro held his breath as the spider crawled, making its way towards his face. The former Tenken raised a hand, intending to crush the spider.
And then the spider suddenly disappeared within his gi.
Eyes suddenly widening, Soujiro suddenly stood up on the tree branch, patting himself down quickly as he tried to crush the thing. Unfortunately, all the moving around caused the branch of the tree to suddenly snap. And before Soujiro knew it, he suddenly felt the air rushing up past him as he fell. Before he could grab something to stop his descent, he quickly came crashing to the ground with a loud thud.
And the spider just crawled out of his sleeve and scurried off.
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Author's Note: Well here's another chapter again folks! And tomorrow is the festival! You know what that means? Yep! Soujiro/Misao galore! Oh yeah, BlackHole. Yes I have read Alone in a Crowd. Believe it or not, that's the fic that got me into Soujiro/Misao o.O Anyway, hope to see you guys in the next chapter! And if the ending to this fic was a little rushed...sorry. I'm becoming half asleep over here since it's almost one o clock in the morning. Well, see ya!