Xx Day 5 xX
"Good morning Miss Makimachi and how are we feeling today?" I threw the blankets over my head to blind out the light when Sayuki opened the curtains.
"It's a beautiful day Miss Makimachi, perhaps you should come out of hiding and join it some day." That's what I liked about her, she could be quite sarcastic and was always there to talk. She had been working for my parents for about five years now.
I threw the blankets away and remembered what happened last night. I sat up watching Sayuki gather my dirty clothes on the floor and place them in a basket near her.
"Sayuki, how did I get up here last night? I mean I remember falling asleep in the training hall." I spoke softly to her. She stood up and sat down in the chair smiling happily.
"Oh it was this really handsome young man...too young for me but he certainly got my heart racing."
"W-was he tall and wore all black?" I stuttered out softly to her while looking down at the bed.
"Come to think of it yes. Why do you ask Miss Makimachi?" I covered my cheeks embarrassed. I can't believe he was there...that means he heard me crying! Oh no! Now he must think I truly am a child! Sayuki cleared her throat snapping me out of my thoughts. She patted one of my shoulders and left the room not saying a word. 'Get lost Aoshi! I never asked for this and I certainly didn't ask for someone as cold hearted like you!' Those words began to haunt me and I dressed into a pair of dark grey loose pants, Sano's baggy shirt and my sneakers. I grabbed my sling bag and headed down the stairs and out of the house for a walk. I must find him and apologise I spoke to myself.
xxxxxxx
I had been wandering down the side of the street coming closer to the training hall one of my brothers used to go to. I would meet him here everyday he was training and after he finished, we'd go off to get some ice cream and sit in the park just across the road. Sometimes I would sit at the doorway watching all the guys sparring together wanting to join in but was too young to do so. I lost my train of thought when I heard the clashing of metal and came to an open door. I looked inside and found about 20 students paired off having sparring lessons. I caught the gaze of the sensei and my eyes widened as did his when we finally recognised each other. He waved me inside excitedly and he embraced me in a warm hug speaking happily to me, as we hadn't seen each other in years.
"Oh, Little Makimachi! It is so good to see you again." I let go looking at him and replied back.
"You too Yama-sama." I giggled a little at remembering what I always called him. I had always said Yamamoto was too long for me when I was younger and made this up. I guess he's stuck with it now. He took my hand in his and we walked around looking at the different students. Yama-sama would usually go off telling each individual about how to improve different techniques and stances but he'd always come back and place my hand in his just like when I was younger. I faulted in my walking when we came to another pair. It was Aoshi and a rather large man sparring together. I watched as Yama-sama walked closer and spoke.
"Aoshi a moment please." Aoshi was moving his kodachi's at an incredible speed but the other guy was pretty good as well and I heard him speak to Yama-sama a little breathlessly.
"I-I'm kinda b-busy grandfather." I gasped at hearing this and saw Yama-sama turn to look at me over his shoulder. I treated him with so much respect because I loved him so much when I was younger and even now I thought of him as a grandfather to me and yet he was Aoshi's. I watched as he smiled at me and turned around to speak to Aoshi once more.
"Your future wife is here Aoshi." I watched Aoshi become momentarily paralysed by the 'future wife' part and the other man took this as an opportunity to trip Aoshi up and he fell on the floor not so gracefully and his smaller kodachi went skidding across the wooden floor and stopped next to me. I looked down at it and flicked it up with my left foot and watched as it twirled in the air and brought out my hand to grab its handle. Aoshi was still lying on the ground and I walked over placing it back into his hand, as he did nothing but stare at me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and stepped back away from him.
The next thing I knew I was slammed to the wooden floor by one of the males who ran into me, as he was sparring with another male. I grunted a little as he placed his heavy weight against my shoulders pressing me harder into the floor.
"Get the fuck outta the way!" He spoke harshly towards me and let go to walk away. I gritted my teeth angrily and glanced my eyes over at Aoshi who was now standing, but not doing anything just like all the other males in the room. I got up and turned around to see the big asshole that did that to me walking away. I ran after him jumping into the air and slamming my feet into his back, then doing an easy backflip and landed on the wooden floor without a sound. He went skidding to the ground and let out a small grunt at getting the wind knocked out of him as he was very unprepared. My hands fisted in rage at being treated like this and I spoke with utter hatred.
"Don't you ever treat me like that again!" I turned around to walk over to Yama-sama but found Aoshi was walking towards me. I heard an outraged voice coming from behind me.
"You'll pay for that you stupid little bitch!" I quickly turned around to see him charging at me with a blade. A small gasp escaped my throat and in a blink of an eye blood splurged everywhere in the air and some hit my right cheek. Seconds later I blinked my eyes to focus them more and looked down to notice I hadn't been injured. I looked over to the blade and realised it had been stopped from embedding itself into my skin. A hand was placed on the blade stopping it from continuing its journey and I looked behind me and my eyes widened when I noticed it was Aoshi. I turned my head back over to the dumb idiot who started all of this and he soon let go of the handle and ran out the door. Other students just stood in shock looking at what happened, as did Yama-sama. I watched Aoshi's bloodied hand let go of the blade as it clattered to the floor. His hand was open and I watched as more blood seeped out.
"NO!" I yelled turning around looking up at him. His eyes were sort of hazy but he came back into focus when I placed my smaller hands over his injured one turning it back into a fist to stop the blood from flowing even more.
"You must keep pressure on it! Yama-sama where is the first aid kit?" I watched as he pointed to the bathroom not being able to say anything else and I began walking that way dragging Aoshi with me. We entered the bathroom and I sat him down on a chair and turned the sink taps on. Once it was full of warm water I placed his hand in the water to rid it of blood, as well as my own. I emptied the water out and filled it up again placing in the disinfectant from the first aid kit. I cradled Aoshi's hand softly and placed it back into the warm water. I observed as his hand flinched a bit and I frowned feeling sorry for him, as it must sting quite a lot.
"I hate this stuff." I turned my gaze to his face but noticed he was looking down at his hand and his jaw line was slightly tensed. I bit my lip knowing if I hadn't have pressed the moment with that idiot this would have never happened to him. This wound was my fault and he would forever have a scar, Misao's scar…I silently spoke to myself. I wiped his hand clean of blood and soon placed it onto a towel.
"Now where is the best place for some light?" I asked out loud. I headed over to the window and opened it up letting in the bright afternoon sunshine.
"For what?" Aoshi's voice was curious but I waved him over and was amazed he actually got out of the chair cradling his right hand in the towel and sat down on the small bench just under the large window. I kneeled on the floor in front of him and brought out some ointment I always carried in my sling bag. I squeezed the ointment out of the tube and guided it along his cut making sure I wasn't touching any of it. I sat in silence placing the lid back on and waited.
"What are you doing?" I looked up into Aoshi's blue-green eyes and smiled while speaking to him.
"Just waiting..." I bent my head back down to his hand and he soon spoke again.
"Waiting for what? Whoa..." I smiled and got out the needle and thread.
"For that..." I spoke absently and began to stitch up his wound.
"How do you know my grandfather?"
"I always came here when I was little. My brother came here to train and I would sneak in and watch but was always noticed and Yama-sama would always grab my hand and lead me around looking at his students." I said absently while concentrating on the stitching.
"Yama-sama?" Aoshi had spoken quizzically at me and I nodded my head and spoke again.
"I always thought Yamamoto was too long and too difficult for me and decided on making something up. He always called me 'Little Makimachi' and still does, so I named him Yama-sama and I would always laugh as did my brother and a couple of the other students because it rhymed but most of all it really does suit him." There was complete silence as the conversation between us was over.
Minutes went by and I finally finished. I placed a non-stick pad over the stitching and wrapped his hand in a bandage. I got off the floor to throw the scraps in the bin and came back over to see Aoshi rise from his seated position and lift a corner of the towel up. I could do nothing but stare into his eyes as his uninjured hand brought the towel over to my right cheek rubbing the blood away from my face. I knew a light blush covered my cheeks but the moment was ruined when I heard a soft knock on the door. I quickly turned away from Aoshi and opened the door to see Yama-sama standing there with a worried look on his face. I smiled at him telling him silently that everything was all right and I exited the bathroom with Aoshi following close behind. I stepped out of the building giving Aoshi time to talk to his grandfather and grab his things.
We had been walking down the sidewalk for about 20 minutes not saying anything. I took a deep breath and spoke softly to him.
"Aoshi about the other night…"
"Don't worry about it…" He spoke cutting me off while absently stroking his hand. I was amazed at how much skill he really had. He weaved around people as though they weren't even there and he wasn't even looking at them either.
"No I'm sorry. I wanted to apologise for being so rude. No matter how much you hate me I should never have said such horrible things. I'm not like that and I apologise." I watched as he silently nodded his head and I brought out the ointment and placed it into his hand.
"If it starts to sting this will help keep the pain away for hours. I suggest you go to the doctors, maybe Megumi's dad and get it checked out properly. I-I guess I'll see you around…" I frowned lightly as he did nothing but stare at me and so I turned away from him and flagged down a cab to take me home.
Xxx to be continued xxX
