I'm Cold
It was winter and Aoshi and Misao were either walking or skipping, depending on who you were referring to, through the thick blanket of snow that covered the road so it could no longer be seen.
Kaoru and Kenshin had summoned them to the dojo, for they have not seen each other for a very long time.
"So, Aoshi-sama!" Misao cheered, "Are you excited? Cause I'm very excited! I can't wait to see Kaoru-chan and Himura!"
Aoshi was silent. He just walked beside Misao who had been bouncing nearly the whole way there. He walked in a meditative way, trying to figure out the exact place in the universe that she could get her energy from.
It started to snow and the snow fell harder and harder until it was so thick you could hardly see.
"Brrr…I'm cold, Aoshi-sama…" Misao whined, finally slowing down and rubbing her arms.
"Well, that's what you get for wearing shorts and no sleeves in the winter and when there's snowstorm. I told you to bring a cloak or something."
"Oh, sorrrry, Mr. Tough Guy with a Nice Big Long Coat that he Won't Give to a Poor Little Freezing Cold Girl! Sorry if I ever did everything possible to help you because I love you sooooo much!……Ohhh…I'm cold, Aoshi-sama……"
Aoshi looked sideways just as Misao's eye lids drooped and she fell forward. He caught her before she hit the ground and held her in his arms so that her neck hung over one and her knees over the other arm. She was so light. And she was ice cold.
Aoshi rolled his eyes and looked around. He needed some sort of shelter for her. There was nothing in sight. No farms, nothing. Then he saw a faint silhouette of a house when he peered into the nearby forest. So that's where he started walking to.
When he finally got there the gray sky had already started turning dark blue and he saw that the house was in pretty bad shape but at least it would be dry, right? Opening the door, however, seemed to be a dificult task.
He pushed and pushed it with his knee and it wouldn't open. So finally he kicked it, but the door had a mind of its own. A stubborn one no less. Yes, the door broke right off the wall and ripped halfway down the center upon hitting a nail sticking up in the cold floor.
He stepped over it into the dark hut and set Misao down. Then he picked up the door and jammed it into the door frame again. The paper on it was very brittle and almost broke while he put it back up but it held up well for its condition.
The house was completely empty, save for a few chairs in the corner. So he walked over to them and saw a box of matches sitting under one. He leaned his hand on the back of a chair to bend over and pick them up, but then the chair collapsed and he stumbled for a moment, trying to keep his balance. This girl was way too much trouble.
He threw the chair pieces into the dusty fire pit and tossed in a lit match, hoping that it would light and he could make a little heat for Misao. The dry chair lit almost the same second he threw in the match. So he grabbed another chair and bashed it against the floor. It broke into a bunch of little pieces so he threw those into the fire. Soon he had created a blazingheat source.
He grabbed the poor little shivering Misao and layed her next to the fire. Seeing that she wasn't shivering any less he decided to sacrifice a bit. He took off his coat and set it over her shivering form.
Satisfied that it was warm enough when she settled down he went to search for a blanket or something because now he was getting chilly. The house only had one room so there weren't many places to look.
Not even a futon. Nothing here but chairs and a fire pit. Who built this sad excuse for a junk box?
If it wasn't for the fire Aoshi would have frozen like Misao, who finally seemed okay. Aoshi sighed and walked over to her. He sat down and grabbed his coat then wrapped it around the both of them, hoping Misao wouldn't wake up and see him wrapped in a coat with her. He was hoping they'd both warm up and he could take his coat back before she woke up.
But it wouldn't really work that way, he would find out. Or would it?
Misao seemed to like the company even in her sleep. She almost instantly snuggled up close against his shoulder and smiled. Her clothes that were slightly damp before had dried by the heat of the fire. He found himself suddenly warm as well. Though her skin was still clammy and pale so he couldn't take his coat back yet, and he couldn't get up either because Misao was hugging his arm pretty tightly.
Aoshi sighed. Why was she so difficult? He figured there was no use trying to escape from this sleeping girl since it would just make her squeeze tighter, or worse, wake up.
So he sat there and stared at her. He realized that she was actually pretty cute. Her hair glimmered in the fire light and there were small drops of water on her eyelashes where snowflakes once were. He noticed that he felt something around this girl. He couldn't even tell what he would feel if she were to leave him all alone. What if she died? He couldn't have that either. He suddenly had the urge to protect this girl through thick and thin.
After a while his eyes drifted shut and he passed into that sweet slumber. Sleep.
The sun came up and Aoshi opened his eyes. Looking over he saw that Misao was still there. He had slipped into a laying position at some time during the night and Misao went down with him, still clinging tightly to his arm.
The fire had also gone out, he realized, and also realized that it wasn't as cold as the night before so the storm must have passed. He thanked Kami for that. He wanted to get out of here badly.
Then, to his surprise, Misao's eyes fluttered open. Oh, chi, what was he going to do?
"A-Aoshi-sama?" She managed to say, "W-What happened?!"
"You passed out in the middle of a blizzard, Misao," He said as calmly as he would let himself, "So I brought you to the first shelter I could find."
"You mean…you saved me?!" She exclaimed.
Before he could respond she kissed him and his eyes widened. Then she jumped back and covered her mouth.
"I-I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me," She said cowering about five feet away.
Aoshi just walked over to her and kissed her back, making her eyes widen more than his. But she soon sank into the kiss since it was the one thing that she had waited for her whole life. He pulled away when he heard voices shouting outside.
"Aoshi! Misao! Are you out here?!"
"Misao-dono?! Can you hear sessha?! Hello, de gozaru?!"
Suddenly Kenshin and Kaoru came bursting through the door.
"You guys! You're here!" Kaoru sighed with relief, "With the snowstorm last night we thought you might have frozen to death! Heck, you made it this far, why didn't you come all the way to the dojo?"
"The-the dojo?" Aoshi asked, confused.
"Yeah, it's only a short walk from here. These are the same woods that are right by the dojo, didn't you know? You could have gotten there if you just followed the path. It is a bit difficult to see and hasn't been used in years but it still leads to the dojo. Mou, you stayed in this shack all night?!"
Kaoru finally seemed to notice the state of the shack they were in.
"How did you survive?!"
"Hai, de gozaru!" Kenshin gaped.
"Misao passed out just as the sun went down and so I carried her to this place and started a fire. If only I knew that the dojo was so close I would have carried her a little farther…" Aoshi explained.
Misao looked down and blushed, remembering what happened just a few moments before.
"Well, come on, you might as well stay one more night and spend some time with us as planned. In fact, why don't you stay a few nights until the storm has a chance to pass," Kaoru and Kenshin led them to the dojo where they laughed and talked like nothing had happened, but Aoshi and Misao acted differently once home…
owari
AN: Ok, so I rushed the end, SO WHAT?! You can't sue me, can you? Well, just review please…