Chapter 3
By Crystal Snowflakes
Author's Notes: Final chapter to be reviewed... Yay!
Disclaimers: Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki and not to Crystal Snowflakes :(
Winter had approached quickly, much to their surprise. They had stayed at the same inn for over a month. While they weren't working, they would train and when they weren't training, they would go out and have some fun...
Misao, feeling that the room was getting stuffy, decided to open the shoji leading outside to get some fresh air... And to her surprise... She let out a small gasp as she stared at the scenery with awe. The dark sky had lit up from the tiny white snowflakes fluttering down... And it was quite beautiful. Snow was really nothing new to Misao, but it was the first time that she had enjoyed looking at it so much... And for the first time in her life, she was speechless.
Soujiro approached Misao from behind and laid his hand on her shoulder, "What are you doing, Misao-san?" He asked.
She opened her mouth, still admiring the snowfall... "It's really beautiful, ne, Sou-chan?" She smiled up at him, "It's really breathtakingly beautiful." She paused. "You know what's funny? Last year, when I saw the snow, I always thought it was bothersome. I never really enjoyed it. I thought it would be nothing but a bother to travel in, but now that I look at it..."
He nodded, "I understand, Misao-san... I think I feel the same way..." He paused, "When Shishio-san used to ask me to do missions in the snow, I always thought about how wet and cold it would be... Demo... Now..."
She looked out again and reached out with her hand, trying to grasp a few snowflakes. She turned around a few seconds later, her hand wet.
He grinned at her, "Misao-san?"
"Hai?"
"I know it's late right now, but would you like to skip practice tomorrow—"
Her eyes widened, "What? Skip practice? Why would I want that?" She exclaimed. "I love practicing!"
"Hush, Misao-san... Let me finish what—"
"Absurd!" She yelped, "Absolutely ridiculous, Seta Soujiro."
He ignored the loudmouth ninja as he continued, "We could play in the snow."
"No skipping practice—" She stopped abruptly, "Play in the snow?"
"Hai." He nodded.
She could see a flicker of annoyance in his eyes and she congratulated herself mentally for annoying the very feared Tenken. She gave him a big grin, "Snow eh? Sure!" She jumped happily and gave him a hug.
He sighed, "Maa maa, Misao-san... If only you had listened to me in the first place, we would have gone through all of this. Then we wouldn't have had to yell in the inn and could've had a few minutes of sleeping time. You yelling might have awakened quite a few customers here... Yuki-san would be too happy if she gets any complaints again..."
Misao shrugged, "Too bad for them, ne? It doesn't really matter for us anyways. You know I would have kept you awake with my chattering." A grin, almost smirk formed on her face, "And plus, I got you annoyed, didn't I, Soujiro?"
Soujiro almost rolled his eyes at the childishness of the ninja. "You take pleasure in making me emotional, Misao-san... And I'm glad you know that you are a loudmouth."
"Oi! I'm not a loudmouth."
He yawned, "Hai, hai... Whatever you say, Misao-san." And closed his eyes as he slipped into one side of the futon.
She glared at him, "Baka! It's good I'm making you feel. It's something you have to learn anyways." When her companion didn't answer her, she grew annoyed, "Oi Soujiro." She shook his sleeping form, "Don't you dare sleep yet. I'm really bored."
"Misao-san..." Came his tired voice. "Go to sleep. Oyasumi nasai, Misao-san."
She stomped her feet, "I'm not letting you sleep, Sou-chan! Get up!"
"Misao-san... You're going to wake everyone in the inn if you keep that up. Yuki-san would really not appreciate her customers complaining to her in the morning."
She scowled, "Nobody cares about the landlady. Get upppp!" She whined.
"Onegaaai, Misao-san?" He begged, "We have to wake up early in the morning, then practice or play. But we have work later, so please don't forget that."
The scowl still on her face, she shook him again, "I'm bored, Sou-chan..."
"Go sleep, Misao-san."
"You're boring."
"I know."
She sighed, giving up. Silently cursing under her breath at the pathetic rurouni, she slipped into the other side of the futon and closed her eyes. "Oyasumi, baka Soujiro."
"Oyasumi nasai." He repeated.
A few minutes later, despite the fact that she did not want to sleep, she fell into a dreamless sleep... And the one who laid beside her, desperately wanting to rest, could not... He had spent the next hour watching her sleeping figure, studying her...
He woke up at the crack of dawn. Feeling the cold wind in the room, he stood up from his futon, only to shiver. He studied the landscape for a few moments before closing the shoji that Misao had left opened the night before. He glanced at the woman, who was, at the moment, deep within the blankets and felt another real smile come upon his face as he watched her... She's adorable.
He blinked at the sudden thought popped into his head.
Shaking his head and convince that he was insane, he slid on his new pair of clothes and smiled again. It was warm and comfortable.
"Warm?"
He blinked as he turned around, only to meet his blue eyes with sparkling green ones. "Hai... You're awake, Misao-san."
She nodded, "The cold woke me up."
"Aa... You left the shoji opened last night and I closed it just a while back."
"Oh. Arigatou."
He nodded, "Well, I'm going to get us some breakfast. You can go ready and decide whether to practice or not."
"Hai."
As they finished their breakfasts, they left the inn to go to their usual training place... It was in the forest northeast of the town... Not many people passed by because it was secluded from the road. In the middle of all the trees was a clearing with a river passing through...
Misao hopped along, careful not to trip as she twirled around and around in a circle, her arms held out. She stuck her tongue out and tried to catch some snowflakes on her tongue.
The young man beside her laughed cheerfully as he, too, stuck his tongue out.
The place they had trained at was much more beautiful with snow... The river had turned into ice from the cold, the trees as well as the ground were covered with snow.
As she caught sight of the clearing, she ran towards it and grabbed some snow to make a snowball, then flung it at Soujiro...
...He had disappeared.
She frowned slightly, wondering where he had gone when she felt something on her head. "Soujiro!" She scowled and looked up, "That's cheating!"
He laughed softly, "Misao-san!" He jumped off the tree and made a snowball, "Watch out...!" He flung it at her gently, missing her.
She laughed, as she flung another one at him, only to have him disappear once again. "You're a cheater!" She shouted, her face flushed from the cold and the happiness.
It was then that she felt a snowball hit her ear, "Itai!" She yelped as she brushed the snow away from her ear, "You're so dead, Sou-chan!" She yelled and grabbed another snowball, attempting to hit him.
After a few minutes of trying, Misao sat on the ground, pouting.
Soujiro came out of his hiding place, "Misao-san?"
She continued pouting, "You were cheating. I can't even hit you!"
He blinked, and for a few moments, all was silent... "If you really want to hit me, Misao-san..." he winced inwardly, knowing that the next few words would cause his death, "...I'll stand here and not move. And you can hit me with as many snowballs as you want."
"Really?"
He nodded, "really."
Her pout turned into a smirk as she started making a snowball, "You're so dead."
He winced, his smile still on his face as he closed his eyes.
Splat!
He almost yelped from the force of the snowball. The coldness had not helped either.
She threw another few at him before she collapsed on the ground, giggling.
He walked over towards her, "Are you all right, Misao-san?"
"Hai!" She chirped, her eyes glowing happily. Without warning, she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him downwards towards her. "Let's make snow angels, ne?"
"...Snow angels?"
She laid down herself, "Yup. Move your legs and hands upwards and downwards..." She instructed, "No! Not that upwards... Sideways then."
He did as he was told.
"Now get up."
He got up.
She grabbed his hand again and he felt his stomach behave strangely again. She pointed at the two outlines on the ground, "See? Don't those look like angels, Sou-chan?"
"Angels..." He muttered, "What do they look like anyways?"
"Baka!"
The sky was bright as the snowflakes flurried down gently... Two rurounis lay on the ground, laughing, playing and having the time of their lives... Their bodies, as well as their hair were covered with snow.
"Misao-san! Stop moving! I'm trying to get your hair free of the snow so you don't get a cold."
She stopped moving... for a while. When her hair was cleaned, she made Soujiro sit down on the ground and brushed the snow on his hair off... And when it was free of snow, she playfully dumped another handful of snow in his hair.
He pulled on her hand, making her fall flat on her butt and he laughed again as he laid down.
She flushed slightly and felt her stomach flutter at the sound... She laid her head on his stomach as she looked up at the sky.
"Arigatou, Misao-san."
She smiled, "For what?"
His smile disappeared for a mere second before he gave her a true smile, "...for being my first friend."
Instead of questioning him, she, too, smiled, "Then I must thank you for letting me know you and for giving me the honour to become your first friend."
He laughed again, "You're welcome..." A few moments passed... "As much as I would like to stay here like this, Misao-san, we should go back to the inn and change now. Work starts soon."
She gave an adorable pout, "Do we have to go today? It's not like anyone would come out in this weather anyways."
"Maa maa, Misao-san. What would Hiroshi-san say if his two helpers were missing?" He said rationally, which had made her want to pout more, and at the same time, kick him.
Misao looked down at her soaking wet clothes, then looked back up at the rurouni who was looking at her. Out of the blue, the young man reached his arms out and wrapped them around her, gathering her into his arms for an embrace, and the young woman, although surprised, returned it.
"Arigatou, Misao-san..." He whispered softly.
"You're welcome." A soft smile carved itself onto her lips as she felt his warmth seeping through the clothes and reaching her. Although her body was still soaked and somewhat numb, she felt so warm. She blinked a small tear away as she started feeling very sentimental. "...Arigatou, Soujiro."
Author's Notes: Another chapter done! I've started the next chapter... Shouldn't be more than two weeks, hopefully. :)
-Crystal Snowflakes
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
