Author's Notes: Attempting to update a lot. Mind you I say ATTEMPTING.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Chapter 3: Hay Fever

Sniffle. Sneeze.

"That's it Aoshi-san! You are too sick to be doing work today!" Okon scolded, hands on hips as they stood outside where Aoshi had been fixing a board on the porch.

"I'm...sniff...fine." he muttered, completely missing the nail as he tried to hammer.

Okon rolled her eyes.

"OKIIIIIIIIIIINAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Aoshi groaned as the old man came outside.

"What is it, Okon?"

"Aoshi-san is TOO sick to work and he's being stubborn about it!!! I demand you order him to bed."

Okina blinked and looked at Aoshi, whose face was flushed with what was apparent to be a fever.

"Aoshi, I think Okon is right. You should go rest."

"Work needs to be done, Okina. I'm fine...." he said, staggering slightly at the end of his sentence.

Suddenly a pair of hairs grabbed him by the sides and lifted him up to stand.

"Stupid, stubborn bastard! Do as your told." Misao said, appearing out of nowhere to grab Aoshi.

Okon and Okina blinked at the fact that Misao had not only dragged Aoshi to his feet, but that she was also holding him up.

"Misao...what are you doing?" Aoshi asked, his eyes starting to droop.

"Taking your stubborn ass to bed, baka! Okina, Okon, don't worry about the chores. I'll do Aoshi's work for him."

Both Okina and Okon merely sweat-dropped and watched Misao LITERALLY drag Aoshi into the house.

"Ano...when did Misao-chan get so strong?"

Okina meanwhile had tears of joy in his eyes.

"I knew my pretty would be a strong woman!!!!"

Okon actually felt her eye twitch.

Meanwhile Aoshi grumbled inaudibly as Misao kicked his bedroom door and open and essentially flung him to his bed.

With hands on her hips, she looked around at his room.

It was simple and plain- oak furniture, blue walls, neat and tidy.

She noticed he had a red-checkered flannel jacket hung over a chair and smirked at that.

She mentally pictured Aoshi in flannel and overalls chewing on a straw of wheat. The thought almost made her giggle but she suppressed it.

She pulled Aoshi's covers over him and patted them- hard.

"Now you better stay in bed or else I'll have to use more force."

"But...you can't get all my work done."

She huffed, crossing her arms.

"Oh not only WILL I get the work done, I'll even have time to make you soup."

"You don't have to make me soup. I'm fine.." he said, trying to sit up, only to get a head rush and fall back.

Misao pinned him down and sighed.

Running out to her room, she returned with something grey/silverish in her hand.

Duct tape?

She pinned him down as she essentially TIED him down with duct tape until he couldn't move. If he wasn't feeling so (dare he say it?) weak, she would have NEVER had a chance to trap him in his bed.

'That thought...is wrong......' he thought.

She twirled the tape roll on her finger and grinned.

"Now you just REST and I'll get everything taken care of!"

"Misao...you can't possibly...get...everything done." he said, feeling himself ready to nod off.

She put her hands on her hips and smirked.

"We'll see about that."

She walked out of his room and sighed, passing Omasu in the hallway.

"Omasu-chan, under no circumstances is Aoshi-san allowed out of bed. I duct taped him there, but he might break out on me."

"You...what?" she asked blinking.

"Duct taped him. Anyways, I'm going to do work now." she said.

Omasu blinked again.

"God help us if he gets free..or God help Misao." she muttered.

Misao in the meantime put on an old pair of jeans and an old plain black shirt as she headed downstairs. Aoshi had gotten most of the morning work done, surprisingly considering his fever. Misao supposed Aoshi was simply that strong in will power albeit stubborn as well.

"Hey Jiya! What was left on Aoshi-san's list of work?" Misao asked, sitting at the kitchen table.

"Well, clean out the horses' hooves, feed the chickens and pigs, clean the troughs, brush down the horses, lay down some hay, clean the stables out a bit...that's it."

Misao blinked.

"He does a lot in a day. Does he do this EVERYDAY?"

Okina played with his beard in thought.

"Yes, though he often also plows and seeds the fields, fixes the tractors, etc. etc."

"Why...does he work so hard?"

Okina sighed.

"I suppose it's his way of atonement."

Misao blinked.

"Eh? Atonement?"

Okina shook his head and went to dry the dishes.

"Nevermind it Misao. You have things to do." he said, shooing her out of the kitchen.

She rolled her eyes and muttered 'hai hai', walking outside.

Okina watched her go with a soft smile.

"Perhaps, my pretty Misao, you can be the one to break him out of his shell." he murmured to himself.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

After cleaning out the horse shoes, Misao was sweating as she fanned her face and looked over a the feed buckets for the chickens. With a sigh, she filled them with grain and walked into the chicken pen, and grabbed a handfull, tossing it to the ground.

What Misao was NOT prepared for was to suddenly have a dozen chickens at her feet pecking and feathers in the air.

"Gyaaah! Get back!!" she cried out, jumping around the pen as she tossed the bucketful of grains to the ground and ran out of the pen like a bat out of hell.

Stopping to batch her breath, she made her way back to the house to get slop for the pigs. She knew THOSE were easier to feed. Just pour slop into trough, let the pigs go crazy. The only downside was having to hose them out.

She recalled the slop was kept next to porch, basically leftovers and buttermilk and whatnot.

Misao grabbed two buckets and walked back to the animals, going to the fence of the pigpen and dumping the slop into two of the troughs. She went back for the other four buckets, taking two a trip, until the troughs were full.

Deciding to use the time of the pigs eating to brush down the horses, she went into the stables and grabbed a brush. She liked brushing the horses, it was monotonous and simple work that she could mull over her thoughts while doing.

Her thoughts were currently...strange.

She found herself missing Tokyo less, missing the craziness and the mess of the life she left here, though she also missed it a lot. She missed Kaoru, missed crazy weekends around the city....but she also liked sleeping a full night, fresh air, open skies...

It was like she was trying to find two places of being. Or more like, trying to find where she was in life.

Her student days were over. She was supposed to go to college in two and half months. She felt...like something was distorted and out of sorts. Maybe she was out of sorts. Maybe she was getting too old for crazy days and sleepless nights, or maybe she was too old for the drama of her life. Soujiro had left a taint on her memories.

"Life's pretty easy for you, eh, Ayame?" she said to the white philly horse.

The horse neighed softly.

"You don't have to think too much on life. I envy that." Misao murmured.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Aoshi-san, I have tea for you!" Okon said, coming into his room with cold green tea and a straw.

Aoshi glared at her.

"Okon, get this duct tape off me."

Okon shook her head and tsked.

"No can do, Aoshi-san! I have strict orders from Misao-chan."

"You listen to an eighteen year old?" he asked, trying to trick her into helping him.

"Blood is thicker than water, Aoshi-san. Besides, Misao-chan's only looking out for you. We need you all rested and better so you can properly get back on your feet." she said, dropping the straw in the water and putting the other end in his mouth.

He drank, an irritated expression on his face.

"That's a good boy! Drink it all up and you may get dessert." Okon teased.

Aoshi glared more.

"Sorry, it's rare to have a chance to poke fun at you. Aren't you so cuuuute when you're mad!" Okon said in a baby voice, lightly pinching his cheek.

He gave her his death glare.

It was a fact, she was doomed when he was freed. Though Misao was more doomed.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXX

Misao whistled as she hosed down the troughs, trying to avoid getting splashed with the slop that was washing out. It didn't matter since she already smelled. She groaned at that. If there was one thing that really bugged her, it was smelling bad. The last time she had smelled was when she had gotten drunk and made faces at cops and then threw up on one before running off.

Letting the troughs run clean, she set the hose down and headed for the stables to spread out some more hay. As she walked in, she grabbed a pitch fork and headed for the loft where the bails of hay were kept. Climbing the ladder, she was surprised at how clean the loft was. Seeing bails of hay she tried to pick one up, but seeing as it was quite heavy, opted to kick it over the ledge to the stable floor.

She chose to use three, and climbed back down to the stables, grabbed the pitchfork she had set next to the ladder, and proceeded to fork out some hay like she had seen Okina do in the past. After a while her arms ached and her back felt sore.

It wasn't easy, and she was sure Aoshi did things more strenuously and more detailed than her.

As it became evening, Aoshi had awoken after sleeping for the rest of the day and felt better. Feeling stronger, he managed to miraculous free himself of the duct tape, painfully, and got out of bed with fire in his eyes.

She was...so dead.

He stalked down the stairs past a surprised Shiro and Kuro and into the kitchen where Okon and Omasu were cooking dinner.

"Aoshi-san!" Omasu said surprised.

"Where...is...she?" he asked, his voice gravelly.

"Misao-chan? She's outside somewhere." Okon answered, taking a step back.

Aoshi stalked to the door, swinging it open and letting it slam shut as the two brunettes watched and blinked.

"She's doomed." they murmured at the same time, returning to cooking dinner.

Aoshi stood on the porch, looking around the yard and his eyes narrowed and focused on the slow moving form headed his way. His eyes narrowed. He stalked towards her and she didn't even seem to notice.

When he was a few feet from her he stopped.

She then looked up, blinking.

"Aoshi-san....are you feeling better?" she asked, yawning, her eyes drooping as she stumbled forward, falling.

Reacting quickly, Aoshi grabbed her and checked her for any signs of sickness...and it took him a few moments to realize she was just simply exhausted. With a sigh, he picked her up and cradled her in his arms as he carried her inside. Okon and Omasu watched with raised eyebrows as he walked past silently and up the stairs.

He passed Okina in the hall who stopped and blinked.

"Is there something I should know, Aoshi?"

Aoshi sighed and turned to face Okina.

"She's tired and passed out. I knew this would happen, but Misao is quite stubborn."

"Of course, I raised her to be a strong girl. So you knew this would happen, eh? Is that why you were against her doing your work? You were worried perhaps?"

Aoshi looked away.

"That the work would not get done properly."

"Sure Aoshi, whatever you say. I overlooked her work, not as good as yours, but she did very well for a city girl. She's a fast learner."

"I don't want her doing any work for two or three days. She'll most likely be unable to get up tomorrow without being sore."

Okina smiled, almost...tearing up.

"Aoshi! You do me proud my boy!!! Such concern for my little Misao-chan! It would be wonderful to have you for a grandson-in-law!"

Aoshi frowned and walked past the old man, to Misao's room.

Setting her gently down, he took off her shoes and set them aside and pulled the covers back and over her. He brushed stray wisps of hair out of her face. She looked so peaceful, so pretty. He shook his head from those thoughts and stood up, walking out of her room.

'Those thoughts are not appropriate...she is too untainted.'

He shut the light off as he walked out, taking one last look at her.

So stubborn, so determined, so energetic...

In any other circumstances, another life he could...

No, she was not for him.

He shut the door and went down to dinner.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Well I updated, I realize everyone wants other chapters our of other fics but I felt like updating this one so please don't bitch at me thanks.