High School Crushes are for Wimps

Misao took her normal route for jogging she did every morning, down the street turning left to go through the park and then back up another street and down an alleyway as a short cut back to the apartment building. Her routine was becoming boring, Misao almost missing out on going today, but knew she should since she hadn't been for the past three days. She carried a camel backpack containing nothing more then some water and her keys to her apartment. She wore a pair of tracksuit pants and a matching jumper, her tattered sneakers still holding in as her feet pounded the concrete ground as she ran.

As always Misao passed by the usual people she encountered on her runs. A couple arguing, an elderly woman attending some flower pots she placed outside her store, a man hosing down the pathway, but always letting her pass by on her run and the usual trench cloaked figure that sat at the bus stop reading a paper. Misao turned the corner to head into the park and noticed that children were walking with their mothers not caring about how cold the morning really was. Not that it mattered when they were all rugged up anyway. She ran passed minding her own business until a small boy yelled in all his might,

"KACHAN IT'S A DEAD BODY!" Misao had stopped in her tracks when she heard that watching a few women race over…and the shrill scream indicated the child wasn't playing around. Intrigue got the better of Misao and she jogged over hearing one woman cry out if anyone had a phone on them to report this to the police. Misao made her way through the small crowd and her eyes grew wide at the crumpled form in front of her.

"Shinomori!" Misao gasped in horror and immediately bent down to look him over, numerous onlookers whispering and yet not doing anything, but what could you do but stand back and wait…

Aoshi was still very much in the fetal position he had fallen asleep in but he now held his bag deathly to his chest, almost trying to fight the bitter cold since he had no jumper over his black school uniform coat. Misao's hand immediately went to Aoshi's neck to feel for a pulse and she was relieved when she felt a faint one.

"He's alive! Somebody help me take him to that apartment building right there…please!" Misao spoke and a man who Misao always saw jogging the same route she did made his way through the crowd and helped Misao carry Aoshi towards her home.

* * * *

(Apartment 802)

"Thank you so much for your help." Misao bowed to the anonymous man and watched him nod curtly and head off towards the lifts. Misao closed and locked her door, she heading silently back into her apartment to see Aoshi lying like a sack of potatoes on her couch, one arm touching the carpet and his head tilted to his right shoulder. When she had asked the jogger to place Aoshi on the couch Misao turned on her portable heater to warm up her lounge room. As Misao now stood above Aoshi she gazed her eyes over his sleeping form. The black eye she had given him was still there, but now her eyes took in the cut lip on his blue tinged lips, a bruise starting to show on the side of his neck and another one on his lower left arm, his black uniform coat having been ripped. Had he been mugged? Misao shook that thought from her head since Aoshi still had his backpack with him.

Misao headed into her kitchen to get a bowl of warm water and some antiseptic from the cupboard that kept her fist aid kit. She returned, her eyes growing in surprise when she noticed that Aoshi was now pulling himself up from the carpet. Silently she stepped closer, watching Aoshi jerk his head in her direction, his eyes growing slightly wide at seeing he was back in Misao's place…and staring right at her. Had he really run that far and in her direction as though she was the only person that he could rely upon?

"Can I…use your bathroom?" Aoshi mumbled as he got to his feet, his face scrunching up even though he tried not to show Misao his pain, but it was too late…she had read his expression as clear as day. He watched Misao point to the door the bathroom was behind and he limped over and closed it silently behind him.

* * * *

Minutes ticked by as Misao began to worry when Aoshi had not surfaced from her bathroom. She moved towards the door, her hand placed on the knob as she opened it up to see how he was.

"Shinomori is everythi-" Misao faulted in her words as she stared over at a topless Aoshi, his back to her. There was a large scar across his back and Misao gasped in horror when he turned around in surprise to see her standing before him, he having forgotten to lock the door and she staring openly at his abused body. He had a large purple-black bruise covering most of his right side, old puckered scars covering the front of his body and other bruises lining his arms and neck area.

"GET OUT!" Aoshi had blurted out loudly and watched Misao slam the door closed, in fright at his words and in respect for his privacy. Aoshi on the other hand had already crumpled to the tiled floor, his torn black uniform coat and his white shirt sitting beside him as he hugged his knees to his chest. Misao had seen him. She would know now that he wasn't as tough as he seemed, that he too had his own problems…and was still trying to deal with them even as an 18 year old. Would she confront him on this matter of why he was covered in bruises and scars? Would she demand answers? Aoshi's fear began to grow. What if she told someone about this?

* * * *

Misao sat outside the bathroom, her back leaning against the wall near the door she had slammed shut. It had been Aoshi's request…and in Misao's horror as she gazed upon Aoshi's battered body she had slammed the door with all her might. Misao tilted her head to the closed door when she heard running water and sighed as she got up to head for her bedroom.

* * * *

Many more minutes ticked on by, the school day having been forgotten. Misao observed from the kitchen as the bathroom door creaked open, Aoshi…with his head bowed walked out in nothing but his uniform pants and a pair of sneakers. Ocean blue eyes followed his form as he headed for his bag with silent strides his body bending slightly to pick up his bag and sling it over his left shoulder.

"Don't think I'll let you leave like that Shinomori." Aoshi had been surprised at Misao's words. He knew she was watching him, but he'd never think she would voice something like that so confidently to him. He watched silently as Misao moved around the counter and brought over a hot cup of cocoa and what seemed to be a folded up blanket.

"At least not until you have a warm drink and sit by the heater for a bit. Your body wouldn't have liked the chill at all during the night." Aoshi blinked down at the shorter girl, shocked into silence that she was not staring at his bruises but rather into his eyes. Sure Aoshi wasn't even going to voice anything, but he knew if he actually did try to form any words in his mouth they would have been stuck in his throat. Aoshi tentatively took the green blanket from Misao and wrapped it around his upper body and turned to sit in front of the heater, its warm air blowing across his face and drying his long bangs.

Misao looked down at the cup of cocoa in her hands and then padded softly to stand behind Aoshi's sitting form, her left hand placing the mug over his shoulder and close to his face so he could smell its aroma.

"Here…" She spoke softly, watching one of his hands reach out from the blanket and take it wordlessly from her own. Misao stepped away then, heading back into her kitchen to make herself a cup of cocoa. The silence was thick in the air when Misao headed back into her lounge room. She knew Aoshi was tense, almost counting down the minutes and seconds as he awaited her questions, but they never came. She only sat on her lounge, now dressed in a pair of black slacks and a blue tank top, the straps of her black sports bra showing. Her legs were updrawn and resting close to her chest; her hands cupping the mug she rested on her knees.

"Why have you not asked me anything?" Misao heard a mumble come from Aoshi. He was facing the large window in her lounge room, this being one of only two windows that were situated in her apartment. The other was located in her bedroom and it was a lot smaller too. Misao took a sip of her drink, her tongue licking her lips to bask in the chocolate taste as she replied to Aoshi's question with one of her own.

"Do you want me to ask you questions?"

"No…" Was his flat answer.

"Then why bother voicing that question then?" Aoshi glanced over at Misao from his sitting position to see she was blowing into her mug trying to cool down its contents.

"I know you would have questions rolling around in that head of yours." Aoshi retorted back, he observing as Misao shrugged her shoulders and then placed down her mug and walked towards her kitchen again.

"Of course I do, but that doesn't mean I'll actually voice them. You want something to eat?" Misao changed the subject as she opened her fridge to see what was inside.

"I have some left over soup I made up yesterday. Its really tasty." Misao spoke, Aoshi blinking at this new side of her…and Aoshi being Aoshi just couldn't help but blurt out his question,

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Well look at you for starters!" Misao replied instantly as she pottered around her kitchen not catching the scowl crossing Aoshi's face.

"You don't have any other place to go do you? Or else you would have high tailed it out of here right?" Misao turned to glance over at Aoshi, his back to her once more as he faced the heater again. She had been waiting for some cocky remark but her eyebrows creased, her eyes softening when she watched Aoshi hug his legs to his chest and mumble out a soft reply, he thinking she could not hear…but she had.

"Aa that is true, I have no place to go…"

"Eat up while its warm." Misao spoke once more as she brought over two bowls of chicken and vegetable soup she had brewed up last night for her dinner. Misao sat on her lounge, her legs crossed as she ate her soup, while a plate with some buttered bread sat between her spot and a spot at the coffee table for Aoshi. She had done it again, completely changed from the ice queen into something that sent Aoshi into hundreds of thoughts wanting to know which was the real Makimachi Misao. He shook his head and moved towards the coffee table, his legs now under him as he picked up the bowl and took a sip. Out of the corner of Misao's right eye she watched Aoshi cringe lightly, he placing down the bowl and pressing his finger to his bottom lip to feel the tenderness of the cut.

"Oh, I almost forgot…" Misao muttered to herself even though Aoshi heard. He watched with sheer astonishment as Misao moved to sit beside him making him turn to look down at her and then observed as she now held up a damp cotton ball and dabbed it on his cut lip. Instantly Aoshi flinched at the smell and the stinging sensation as well.

"Oh don't be a baby. Its antiseptic and it will help keep any germs and infections away." Misao retorted and continued to tend to Aoshi's wounds. The bowl of warm antiseptic water sat on the carpet besides Misao. Her right hand dabbed the damp cotton balls on Aoshi's cut lip and the cut near his eye while her left hand actually held the base of his neck and head area making sure he couldn't move away. Aoshi had literally frozen in his seated position; his eyes cast straight ahead not daring to look down at Misao as she fussed silently over the two measly cuts on his face. Misao's fingers were warming Aoshi's chilled bare skin as he finally registered that he could feel them against his bare skin, but Misao had no clue as she let go and stood up carrying the bowl back into the kitchen to wash it out.

"Makimachi why is it that you hide behind some facade? Are you afraid to show people this side of yourself?"

"Why do you hide yourself away from others? Why do you put up a strong and confident facade when clearly you are broken inside?"

"Broken Makimachi? Clearly you have no clue what you are talking about." Aoshi responded, but watched surprised as Misao reefed the blanket from his shoulders, her eyes boring over his half-clothed form. In that instant, faster then Aoshi could even react she lifted up his left hand, pulling away the velcro wrist band of his watch and thrust his own wrist in his face revealing horizontal scars.

"Broken…" Misao muttered and watched Aoshi jerk away from her, he abruptly turning away from her once more as he yelled his own words in a reply to her remark.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Misao's own hands fisted in rage at his stubborn ways. She burned with anger, burned with hatred and for one instance Misao let out her frustration to someone who seemed to connect to her more then anyone else had in her entire life.

"How dare you say that! You act like the entire world revolves around you! Oh look at poor Shinomori Aoshi all defenceless, all alone, all crushed and broken inside. Well guess what you asshole, there are others who feel pain, who have been through pain and who are still going through it now. There is always someone more like you then you'll ever know Shinomori!" Aoshi's eyes had grown wide hearing Misao's words. What made it even worse was the ice had started to crack inside Misao, ocean blue eyes turning glassy with unshed tears. He had moved his gaze away from them, almost cringing that he had been the cause of it and yet all his attention was now focused on a thin pale wrist open for him to gaze upon…a wrist that had scars just like his…

* * * *

To be continued…

* * * *

Authors Notes: Honestly this wasn't where it was going to go, but I don't mind it. It might be going really fast, but I don't truly want to drag this story out very much. I've got all my information together for the 'Heart' so I'll get through this eye opener on both Aoshi and Misao (although nothing will truly be revealed) as they both will head back to school, do their work and pretend like nothing has happened. (I did say they had one of those weird relationships remember?) The fun begins when Sano witnesses something he isn't supposed to and when Kenshin finally confront Aoshi in the gymnasium at the school. Guess who's eavesdropping?

Well its 1:30am, I'm dead tired and off to bed. Ja ne! (^_^)