Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. Oh man I wish I did though.

Author's Note: Ahh Thanks for being so nice on the reviews. I know have some errors and I really shouldn't cause I'm in like AP English and all. But this shows you summer does ruin your brain! But I love it! Can't believe I have one freaking week before summer is over!

The Offer

Chapter 2

Misao had broken out into a cold sweat while on her way to her room. Her long hair had plastered to her white column of a throat. She was breathing heavily. As she reached her room she almost let out a string of the worst curses she knew. She had forgotten the reason why she had came down into the kitchen in the first place. Her rice balls were down there waiting for her to claim them. But she couldn't do that now not while Okina was still down there. Her stomach growled with ferocity against such cruelty for not having fed it. ' In an hour or two I will come down there' she thought to herself – hoping that this would somehow appease her stomach – but of course it was just her luck that her stomach did no such thing.

She flopped onto her bed hoping this would cease the pain in her stomach. But as seconds ticked into minutes- Misao's patience waned until it broke and she sat up quickly pushing herself off of the bed. She felt so hot and uninhibited. Her sweat was everywhere, it trickled down her throat and she felt slick and so very hot. Which confused her because she was only wearing a thin sleeping yukata. Her room felt like a furnace just burning her slowly. Her mind felt stuffy and clogged up. She wanted to run outside and just yell. She felt crazed and wild and so alone. Never before had she felt this kind of hotness where she just wanted to shed her clothing and lay against the cold ground. Letting the bare ground lend her the needed coolness. Her hair now gone of the braid was wild in every sense and it stuck to her skin like glue to paper. She wondered how she looked and it made the corners of her mouth curve up slightly to think that if anyone saw her like this they would be mortified thinking they had seen the ghost of a beautiful maiden. Her thin white yukata was now barely draped over her shoulders and her dark black hair contrasted against her pale almost white skin. Indeed she would scare herself it if it weren't for the fact that she didn't believe in such fancies anymore. Her slight smile curved downward slightly - thinking ' when did I grow up so soon?' Did she grow up when she realized that she just didn't adore Aoshi anymore? Did she stop believing when her adoration became lust and love for the man that did not deserve it?

"No. I grew up when they promised my hand to another." Misao said aloud not realizing that someone might have heard this comment for the doors were made out of rice paper. No one had protested when they heard that Okina was going to marry off Misao to the person that would help the Aoiya profit the most. She had hoped in the far recesses of her heart that Aoshi would speak against this marriage. That he would say something that might show he had feelings for her. But it seemed like he didn't even notice she was getting married. She felt so cheap, so trashy, she felt like she would be nothing but a person to bed for the unknown man who would claim that she was his wife. Okina had yet to reveal the identity of the man who chose to marry her. That was why she hated them so much. Of course she protested at first against this marriage stating that if she could not marry for love then she would not marry at all. But then something that Okina said struck a cord within her and it made her realize but bitterly mad nonetheless.

Okina with his observant ways had asked her, ' What if the man you loved could not love you back- what then would you do Misao? What if he pitied you and pretended to love you and make you happy only because it would appease everyone? What if he would never awaken from his state until he lost you? What if Misao, think about this – what if he could really never learn to love? What then would you do Misao? Would you marry another even though you claimed you loved HIM the most? Or would you become and old maid regretting that you never married another?'

Misao remembered choking on her tears – tears that she never knew even existed until Okina had started asking the ' What Ifs'. But she knew he was right- but oh how she hated him for not letting her decide which of the 'What Ifs' she would've chosen and instead he chose for her and what her course her life would take. But what made her mad was that no one – not even Omasu or Okon the two most idealistic women she knew – protested. They went on with their lives and suddenly it seemed that Misao had been erased from their lives- from everyone's lives. She felt like no one understood her. Her life was doomed to a forced marriage and kids she did not want. Of course she wanted kids but she didn't want them with a man she did not love. She knew she would try her best but somehow she couldn't think about the possibility of loving the man whom she was in wedlock with. It scared her to think she was so selfish to want a love in a marriage that she might not even love her kids- the kids that would come as a result of this – this- THIS CURSE.

A wandering breeze crept into the window of Misao's room reminding her that outside was by far cooler thanks to the coming Monsoon. She needed to cool off both her body and mind. She didn't need all this stress. Especially not now when she needed to keep her head straight to think of maybe a reason she could escape this marriage or at least holding it off for as long as possible. She would not rambunctiously protest as she would if she was still 16 but she would do it in her own ways. She would learn to be the one who manipulated not the one was being manipulated. She realized that she had been sweating profusely for her palms felt clammy and her thighs were moist with sweat. She apprehended that she needed to step outside into the cool night before she did anything else.

Her mind was still a little bit hazed and stuffed up as she clambered down the stairs and out into Okina's garden. A slight drizzle had begun and she was glad for she needed the refreshing rain to both cool her down and cleanse her soul. She felt so calm and collected sitting out here in the middle of the night just gazing at the stars and feeling the soft breeze against her skin. She had left the shoji door that led to the garden hoping that the breeze going around would also cool the stuffy Aoiya down too. Although she definitely felt hot to touch, she had somewhat cooled down enough to think clearly and especially enough to no longer be rash in her decisions and emotions. In her attempts to cool down her yukata had slid off her shoulders and now it hung limply at her arms. She wondered if she should even attempt to be modest and placed it upon her shoulders again. It felt fantastic being out here in the drizzle. She questioned why she never did this before.

"Misao."

Misao turned quickly to the direction of the voice. Again someone had caught her off guard. At this rate she was becoming a horrible ninja. Twice in a night she hadn't been unable to detect the presence of others. First it was Okina and now – she turned around to see who had dared to bother her serene moment – possibly her only moment of peace- only to see the eyes of the sickeningly pale iceman Shinomori Aoshi.

"Misao. It is raining" Aoshi said with a low and yet powerful and authoritative voice.

Misao smirked. It was only like him to state the blatant obvious. How should she respond to Aoshi? Should she do it with animosity lurking beneath her voice or should she do it like sweet bane- killing him slowly with her sweet and poisonous words? No she should give him a dose of his own medicine and be the opposite of her character. She would answer his questions with unfeeling words and most of all words that would cut – no matter how it was said.

"Ahh. It is." She answered – not even looking back as she did so.

"What are you doing out here in the rain?" Aoshi inquired with a curiosity hinted in his voice.

Aoshi had just spoken nine whole words to her in one day. He hadn't spoken so much to her since his return. She was shocked but she did not reveal it. Misao chose not to answer his questions and remained with her back to him gazing at the far off stars.

"Misao – are you alright?"

There was no response to Aoshi's question and a strange silence fell upon the two standing in the middle of Okina's garden. One staring off into the stars wishing she too could shine that brightly for a certain someone. The other a man was staring at the girl who had caused him so much confusion and disorientation and who had still continued to do so.

Aoshi could not stand the silence between them any longer. Yes, he preferred silence when he was alone or with others but when he was with her – he ... well he preferred to hear her voice telling him how her day was, he liked it when she filled his dry, uneventful day with her ramblings but no- she would never know it and he would never show it. He would choose death before he showed his emotions. But he was worried... What if Misao was seriously sick? What if she was going to do something drastic due to wedlock?

Aoshi took a step forward and then another. He had never felt so unsteady before.

Misao swerved around sensing that he was walking towards her. She had freaked out, scared out of her wits. Why was he doing this? Why was everyone approaching her at such a horrid hour? She was breathing heavy – her thoughts scattered. She didn't know how to handle a situation where Aoshi had been the one to verge on a topic. This was something new to both of them and at this moment in time everything was unstable and feelings could be tangled and emotions and lives could worsen.

Aoshi looked at Misao and something stirred within. He looked her over. She was bared to him – her yukata had fallen off displaying her bounded chest and her hair was not in its usual braid. Sweat covered her body – making her hair stick to her face, throat, and chest. She was breathing heavily. The raindrops had gathered and they slid tantalizingly slow down to the valley of her chest. His mouth had gone dry. He had never seen her like this. She looked so seductive. But he did not deserve her. He was evil in everyway possible. He scowled at the thought of being evil.

Misao saw the look in his face and was confused. She had never seen this side of him. Did he really hate her that much that he had to keep staring at her as if she was monster? She wanted to cry. He hated her – didn't he?

"Please" Misao gasped out loud – tears on the verge of spilling out the corners of her eyes and shattering on the blades of grass.

"Please what Misao?"

"Please stay away from me Aoshi. Please. You must seek your redemption and I must seek my salvation" Misao seethed the words out – almost choking on them. Never in a million years did she ever think she would say those words. But things were different now. Now that she had found out that he really hated her.

She did not call him "Aoshi-sama". Aoshi had registered that before he had to the words that were spoken. But when he did – he was dismayed. ' So she has moved on and fell for someone else' he thought to himself. He thought spitefully that this was what he wanted. Yes – he didn't love her like a man should love a wife. He loved her as person loves their sister or brother. But then what was that moment ago when she turned around and faced him? What had happened there? Was that how a brother was supposed to feel for his sister? No, whatever he felt for Misao had to be crushed and forgotten because in a few months she would belong to another.

"Yes, I will do as you wish Misao." Aoshi answered before turning around and walking away back into the Aoiya.

Misao watched Aoshi's retreating back and she let the held back tears burst out and her emotions came spilling forth. Yes he hated her. Indeed this revelation would help her learn to love her husband, even though she deemed it impossible. Indeed the key to having a good relationship with her future husband was to forget and maybe even learn to hate Aoshi Shinomori as he did her.

Umm... I hope the plot is clearer? Thanks to all those who reviewed! I feel very inspired when I get reviews so I write faster!