Disclaimer: I no own Rurouni Kenshin…
Hidden in Study – Chapter 7 – By Cherry Chibi
Kaoru walked slowly. It had been awhile since she had exercised properly and her legs were feeling wobbly. 'Who would've thought that it would be this hard to walk. Next time I should avoid getting injured so badly…' She finally reached outside and gratefully breathed in the crisp morning air. 'It's worth it to get out once in a while.' She noticed someone with short scruffy hair approach her with an apron on. 'What's up with the outfit?'
"What are you looking at?" Yahiko snapped.
"Er… why are you wearing that?" Kaoru asked innocently but Yahiko didn't seem to be in a good mood to be giving any explanations. By his attitude along with all the rumors she had heard, being around this guy wasn't going to be pleasant.
Not a good first impression. Their stares turned into glares.
"It's none of your business!" Yahiko replied curtly.
"Well, I was just asking! You brat!" Kaoru felt insulted. She had just asked him an innocent question.
"Hey! Don't call me a brat! Raccoon-dog!"
"Raccoon-dog?! Argh! You brat!"
Kaoru and Yahiko threw words at each other until Tae came along with and called Yahiko. "Yahiko! Tsubame needs your help with the rice bags!"
"Ok! Sekihara-sensei!" Yahiko replied. "Raccoon-dog." He said as he ran away to do his tasks.
"Brat!" Kaoru shouted back. "Sheesh, what's up with him?" She rolled her eyes. Was it just her imagination or did she spot the mischief and laughter in that guy?
"A---------kai!" Misao came and threw her arms over Kaoru's shoulders. "I'm soooooo dead!" Misao started. "I'm so sorry!"
"What's the matter?" Kaoru asked. 'What a great morning, already its filled with 'excitement'… I feel a head ache coming…' Kaoru thought.
"I'll tell you in my room…"
* * * *
"You what?!" Kaoru gaped at Misao. "You walked in on Aoshi while he was…" Kaoru's cheeks puffed up from her effort not to laugh. Misao pouted.
"Kaoru! It's not funny! He now knows that we're girls!" Misao said while blushing bright scarlet red.
"What?! You told him about me too?! Misao!!!!!" Kaoru stopped and calmed herself down, 'Misao is already feeling bad enough so I better not make her feel any worse, plus, why should I worry about being revealed to a friend?' "But he said that he wouldn't tell right?" Kaoru asked. "So he wouldn't. He keeps his promises." Kaoru said. After she had finished her sentence, she puffed up and laughed again. "I can't believe you screamed 'elephant' who on earth taught you that?"
Misao covered her face with her hands. "Argh!" Misao couldn't tell whether she should be embarrassed about the fact that she had said the wrong word at the wrong time or worried that she had blown her cover.
"It's alright Misao!" Kaoru said while patting Misao in the back. "Aoshi may know who we really are but he has grown to get to know our personality, revealing our true gender shouldn't change a thing."
"… But that's the reason I'm worried!" Misao spoke up, "Aoshi had changed personality suddenly! He…" Misao couldn't explain it. She recalled the events of last night…
Misao turned around still with her hands on her cheeks. "Um… ah… so… no point hiding myself to you now huh?" She asked while forcing herself to stare into the guy's face. Her hands felt like that were being fried on hot plates.
"That'd be a good start." Aoshi said feeling his cheeks slightly burning too.
Crickets in the grass filled the atmosphere for a while. Aya shifted uncomfortably and then said, "Well, I better go then huh?" She said goodnight to them both and left to go back to the dorms. Misao wanted to scream after Aya to stay because now she was left alone with Aoshi.
"…Why?" Aoshi started off. Misao rubbed her forearm.
'I can't lie to him anymore… I've already lied about myself and Kaoru for over six years…' Misao breathed in slowly. 'I'm sorry Kaoru…' She explained to Aoshi about how much when they were little toddlers that they had imagined themselves going to school and exploring new things. She then explained to him how much Kaoru had wanted to go to school but there weren't any schools for girls. So Kaoru had made a deal with her parents and won at the end. "Yeah…and from there, everything kind of took off." She paused for a moment.
Aoshi's face was blank with only his eyes showing the little of his emotions. She couldn't read whatever had been written by his icy pools. "I understand." He walked down towards the dorms. "I won't tell anyone but…" He stopped mid sentence, "Don't walk into the bathhouse until around midnight alright?"
Misao laughed, "Oh sure, sure. I won't do that again." After Aoshi had disappeared, she stopped and gasped. 'Did he just use humour? Weird yet… hm…'
"Misao!" Kaoru was clicking her fingers in front of Misao's face. "You went off into dream land for a moment there." Misao blinked a couple of times before heaving a sigh. "Hey, are you alright? You seem to be… I don't know, sad." Kaoru said.
"There's nothing to worry about." Misao said with a big smile. "Since you're up and walking, let's get to the cafeteria! I'm starving!" Kaoru nodded in agreement and stood.
* * * *
In the cafeteria, Kaoru was welcomed and greeted by the others warmly while Misao had to silently take the spare seat beside Aoshi. "Um… Morning Aoshi." She said it as normally as she could.
"Morning." He replied in an icy tone, it no longer held that little warmth. She felt uncomfortable from that point on and ate silently. Kaoru however acted normally but noticed Misao's change in mood.
"I heard that there were girls in this school who dressed up as boys," Sanosuke said half seriously and half hinting to the guys. "There's been rumours going around saying that these girls are here for some form of spying…"
"That's not true!" Aya said abruptly. "They're here-,"She stopped and settled herself. The others were giving her strange glances while Kaoru and Misao looked at each other slightly worried. Aya looked at her older brother for help. Saitoh cleared his throat.
"Matsu has a point," Saitoh said, "It'd be stupid if a girl would dress as a boy at this age…" He gave Aya a 'shut-your-mouth' look and she glared back at him with 'it-was-an-accident'.
"I suppose…" Soujiro said still smiling.
"Matsu… you sometimes seem suspicious…" Sanosuke said. Aya felt her heart pound faster and faster. "Like… sometimes you have this really soft voice like a girl…"
"And you hang around with Tsubame and Megumi a lot…" Soujiro continued.
"Hey! Are you guys saying that I'm a girl?!" Aya choked out. 'Oh help me someone!' It wasn't fair! They were ganging up on her and she wasn't sure what she should do, but they couldn't do anything to prove it yet…
"I don't think its fair that you should gang up on Matsu guys," Kaoru said to Aya's defence, "He isn't a girl and that's for sure. Rooster-head, who has been spreading these rumours?" Kaoru questioned seriously.
"Why do you care so much Akai?" Sanosuke asked. "I heard it coming from a conversation Tsubame and Fox-girl were having."
"You eavesdropper!" A scream came from behind.
"Uh oh…" Sanosuke growled. "Morning Fox-girl!" He felt a slap at the back of his head. "What was that for?!" He glared at Megumi with death. "Since when were you given the right to harass a guy who's having breakfast?!"
"Since when were you given the right to tell me not to?!" Megumi replied curtly. "You eavesdropped in one of my conversations!" Their argument continued on with insults and debating.
"Good timing…" Kaoru muttered, "Now that topic is kinda moved out of the way." Misao nodded. 'But Aoshi and Kenshin as well as Saitoh have been silent throughout… I understand that Aya is Saitoh's younger sister so he wouldn't want to make this rumour spread any further… Aoshi knows about Misao… but what about Kenshin?'
"Akai, are you going to start training again?" Kenshin asked Kaoru. "You've got a lot to catch up on."
"I hope to start again tonight." Kaoru replied, "By the way, has Seijuro-sensei's ego annoyed you any further lately?" She raised an eyebrow when Kenshin looked down with an exasperated sigh. "Kenshin?"
"He said things that really bother me. That's all." Kenshin replied. "It seems that the rumour is in fact true… Seijuro-sensei has asked me and Aoshi to search through groups and make sure we find the people and report them."
"How did he find out?" Misao asked. "Was someone reported?" She felt her throat turn into a desert.
"A letter was sent to him explaining everything." Aoshi said more to Misao than anyone else. "Their parents were murdered by bandits." Misao's and Kaoru's upper brain functions stopped; the words just repeated in their heads.
'Their parents were murdered by bandits…'
'Their parents were murdered by bandits…'
'Their parents were murdered by bandits…'
"How… dreadful…" Kaoru said, 'Maybe it isn't me… maybe it isn't me…'
"Yeah…" Misao agreed with a pale face.
"Are you two alright?" Kenshin asked.
"Go see Seijuro-sensei and admit the truth Misao." Aoshi whispered to Misao before leaving the table silently. Misao lowered her head glumly. Kaoru looked sympathetically at Misao. After all, it must have felt horrible that Aoshi suddenly changed moods at Misao.
* * * *
Kaoru was waiting inside Misao's room with Aya, Tsubame and Megumi. "Sorry for bothering you…" Kaoru said. Tsubame just smiled and Megumi shrugged. Aya knelt on the floor with her hands clasped over her lap.
"It's alright Akai," Tsubame said.
"After all, we always like to help out with whatever," Megumi added.
Kaoru laughed lightly and then said, "No, my name isn't Akai…" she paused for a bit while Tsubame and Megumi stared at her, their minds slowly working out towards the reason for such a statement. "My name is Kaoru Kamiya."
"You?!" Megumi said out loud in awe. "Y-you're the one who Seijuro-sensei and Okina-sensei are looking for!" She then looked at Aya, "You knew this?"
Aya nodded. "Misao revealed my secret when we were training, but now… I think everything is getting out of hand…" Her eyes held a faraway gleam of disappointment. "I still want to study so I'm doing whatever I can to keep this secret…"
"Misao?" Tsubame said slightly confused.
Suddenly, the shouji door opened and Misao entered still with the gloomy aura emitting from her body. "Did someone call my name?"
"This is getting weird…" Megumi said, "So, what are you two going to do?" She looked at Misao and Kaoru while silence played its roll.
"I-I don't know…" Misao said. "I mean, if it was Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya that have been murdered… I-I don't know what I'd think!" She plopped herself next to Kaoru. "Kao… what do we do?"
"We won't do anything." Kaoru said, "I'm not going to give up! If my parents happened to be the victims then I will keep going, there's no looking back!" She stood abruptly and clenched her hands into fists. "Mum and dad would want me to keep going and to keep doing what I believe!"
"Kao…" Misao said quietly, she shut her jaw and paused for a moment before nodding in agreement and forcing a smile. "You're right! We've gone this far and we should go all the way! Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya wouldn't want us to be grieving all over… Kaoru, let's continue for them!"
Kaoru nodded once, "Right!"
"We can help," Tsubame said. "We can help cover up for you girls when you get to one of those close calls." She placed a hand on Aya's shoulder, "You'll be able to keep your promise for much, much longer!"
Aya smiled from ear to ear. "Right!"
"And I'll make sure that I'll try to ease off the rumours…" Megumi said while winking. She giggled and said with a mischievous tone, "I'll sure get that loud mouth Rooster-head for eavesdropping…"
"Er…" The four other girls looked at Megumi unsurely.
* * * *
"The blossoms of today draw strength from roots of a thousand years old."
* * * *
AN: Hello! Hope the wait wasn't too long! I've just had a minor operation on my right eyelid lately so I've been out of it… Hehe… now I've got a patch over my right eye… I look funny… #-^x Anyway, hope you guys liked it and the little quote at the end… ah… I just wanted to put it there. And I've recently realized that I'm going a bit off track about the transformation from Kenshin to Battousai… oh well, I'll go back to that next chappy…
Califpinay3001: #o^x ~~ lol~~~ #-^xV Thanks for r/r!
Satora Bona: Yep! Good on you! Glad that you liked the chapter. #o^x
Silver Knight 7: Updated as soon as I could!
Darkgirl 12: Yep, I'm definitely going to put Ao/Mis romance later in this fic, it'll be a while though…
Kik-ting: Lol. I'm happy that you liked that chapter! #o^x
Purple Flower: Updated as soon as I could, sorry for the wait, I had been pretty busy with my medical problems. #.^x
Ixchen: Yay! You found it funny? *It's hard to write something that would make another person laugh* #o^x V
MP: Yeah… she blew her cover as well as Kaoru's… now Aoshi knows… Well, you gotta find out what happens next! #-^x
The Sacred Night: Aya will be playing a bigger role as the fic goes on so you'll find out a more about her.
Thanks everyone! Until next time…
~Cherry Chibi #o^x ß *I think I like having a patch over my right eye… lol*