Rain

By : Cereis

(or Rikka-chan since that's my account name)

OMGEE! I'm am sooooooooooo sorry for not update in like, forever! i planned on updateing two weeks back, on monday, but school started and i got super busy. My computer at home is retarted and can't go online, so i have to update my mom's office with the super cool kick ass computer with DSL! I was planning on updating once a week...that plan failed horribly. heh heh...Please, if you could all forgive me...

So anyways, if ths story has some errors in it,...I'M SORRY! I proof-readed this chapter two weeks ago, so i'm not so sure if it's perfect yet...but i don't want to keep yall waiting...so...at least you can have the chapter with errors in it rather than getting a month from now, right?

Now on with the story!

Disclaimer: I sadly don't own RK

Chapter Three

"Itai!"

The girl had cried out in pain from falling on the ground for the umpteenth time.

"I just had to take the forest path, didn't I" she said while rubbing her arm while continuing to walk while carrying a small package under her arm in a sling bag.

It was getting dark outside. She had been walking all day. Maybe in an hour or so she would reach the outskirts of Kyoto.

Not to mention, she was wearing a yukata. A men's sleeping yukata that was too big for her, causing her to trip every couple of minutes.

Despite it's inconvenience, it smelled pretty damn good.

Memories of her close encounter with the man who saved her came back to mind. She could smell him, the fresh scent of the outdoor, incense, and green tea, all oddly mixed in one. It smelled so good, it intoxicated her. It teased her senses and twisted her thinking. His piercing blue eyes didn't help her state of mind at the time either. They were so deep, enticing. She had never been looked at so intensely before. It made her melt on the inside. No man had ever looked like that at her before. And to think, she almost gave into that.

Thank Kami-sama that I came back to my senses at that last minute. Who knows what could have happened if I didn't come back to reality.

But despite everything, something was different about him than all the other guys.

She also felt a little bit of regret that she didn't kiss him.

ARG! I can't think that! No men can be trusted except for Shiro, Kuro, Okina, Hannya and the guys, and…Aoshi-sama.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she continued on her way and her current problems.

She sighed.

"How can this get any worse!"

Something wet and cool all of a sudden fell on her face.

"Huh?"

She wiped it off and looked at it.

Water?

:GUUUSSSSHHHHH:

Rain all of a sudden came down in sheets.

"Just had to say it, didn't I?"

She kept on walking.

:time passes:

"Uhh…"

The girl was walking down the final path to the back way to the Aoiya.

"Almost there….can't give up…al…..almost…the…."

A dizzy bout came over the girl and she passed out.

At the Aoiya

"I wonder what's taking Misao so long, she should have been back by noon today…"

"She probably got a little lost, nothing to worry about Okon."

"But still… Oh Shiro, I just get so worried about her sometimes. What if someone tried to kidnap her… or she got hurt, or-"

"Don't worry, everything will be alright." Omasu said.

"No one can take on Misao, she's Oniwabanshuu, the daughter of Makimachi-san, she'd hurt them before they could hurt her." Kuro joined.

"But still," Okon paused, "the way she's been acting lately, it's been a little different than out of the ordinary…"

"Yea, and the way she said good bye before she left, it was as if she was never going to see us again…" Kuro added.

"You don't think she'd try to do something drastic, do you?" Okon said worriedly.

"No! of course not, this is Misao were talking about! She would never do anything like that!" Shiro scolded.

"You two should know better!" Omasu added in.

"…I guess you two are right. Misao isn't that kind of person." Okon agreed.

"Well, it's getting late, we all better go to bed before Rikai starts yelling at us for being out doors this late at night." Kuro said looking at how high the moon was.

"Ok." They all agreed

Omasu and Okon headed for their rooms in one direction while Kuro and Shiro went to theirs.

"I think I'll take a quick pit stop at the bath house before I go back, I think I left one of my gi's there." Shiro whispered over to Kuro while passing Rikai's room.

"Ok, see you in the morning then." Kuro whispered back, walking off towards his room waving his hand.

"Later."

Shiro walked off in the direction of the bathhouse.

He started grumbling.

Shit, if Rikai catches me out here, it's cleaning the kitchen alone for a month…That gi better be in there or else.

The bathhouse started to come into view.

Finally.

His hand almost touched the doorknob when he heard a thud come from behind the bathhouse.

What the hell?

He slowly started to walk to the side of the small building, taking a peek around the corner.

He saw nothing.

"What the heck?"

He took a step forward and almost tripped.

Him being the good ninja he was caught himself in mid air.

:thud:

Him being lax in his training caused him to fall on his butt when he landed on a baseball sized stone.

"Itai!" he shout whispered to himself.

He picked up the stone and threw it into the woods.

Damn stone…what the hell did I trip on anyways…

He looked around and noticed a lump on the ground.

The way the moon shone on it gave it an eerie shadow. He shuddered a little bit.

He looked at it for a moment and realized that it moved slightly up and down.

Then he realized that it was alive.

He moved a little closer to it.

It had a long tail…looked kinda like a…a braid…

A braid?

"Huh?"

He crawled over even closer.

Misao?

It is Misao!

"Misao! What the heck are you doing out here? And why are you so late!" he once again shout whispered.

"Misao?" he poked her.

"Misao, wake up." He poked again.

"Misao. Misao, wake up." He poked her harder.

"Misao!" he hit her arm.

Bad move.

"Itai!"

Shiro scooted back from Misao, nursing his left arm.

Damn! She's still got skill, even in her sleep!

He rolled his writ to check if it was broken. Thankfully, it was not.

Misao had grabbed Shiro's arm in reflex as he tried to hit her arm to wake her up and twisted his wrist painfully, but not enough to break it. It happened every once in a while when some one attemps to wake her up when she was really, really tired.

:flashback:

Shiro, a young teenager, was walking by the training room and noticed that Misao had passed out from training, a wooden tanto still in hand. Aoshi came up from behind him to wake her up and take her to her room. He followed close behind.

"Misao. Misao, wake up." Aoshi prodded her gently, " You'll catch a co-"

Aoshi was stopped in mid sentence, ducking to left.

Unfortunately, Shiro wasn't quite as lucky. It hit him square in the forehead.

"Itai!" He grabbed his fore head in pain and sat on the ground.

Misao had thrown the tanto that was in her hand and had some how aimed it quite accurately at Aoshi's head. Shiro's just happened to be in tge wrong place at the wrong time.

"Are you ok?"Aoshi said looking over at him.

"Yea…but I think I'm gonna get a bump. Man that hurt! Misao, that wasn't funny!"

Shiro said looking at Misao. But Misao was still deep asleep, as if nothing ever happened.

"Huh?"

"I think she did that on reflex…in her sleep. How unusual." Aoshi said, impressed looking at the bump that was starting to form on Shiro's head.

"That was pretty accurate too."

"You're telling me, I'm the one that got the full blow." Shiro said rubbing head again.

"Hm, I guess that's just a glimpse of what her true talent is going to be like in the future."

"I guess so, then I better watch out."

"Aa."

Aoshi turned back to Misao, gently picked her up, and walked out of the room.

:end flashback:

He smiled at the memory.

Oh well, I guess I'm lucky that she didn't have any kunai in her hand. Last time it took a whole week for the bump to go away.

He could only imagine what could have happened if kunai were in her hand.

He gently picked Misao up this time, so as not to trigger her reflexes and headed toward her room.

An hour till dawn the next day

Aoshi's eyes fluttered open, as if he were just resting them instead of sleeping.

The early call of a bird in the morning had woken him up. He had always been a light sleeper.

He sat up and looked out the window. It was dark still; it was probably about one hour before sunrise.

He got up and stretched for a couple of minutes before planting himself back on the ground to meditate.

It was going to be a long day, a one-day non-stop trip to Kyoto on foot.

His last thoughts before falling into a dreamless sleep were about what he was going to do about Naguchi…and the girl whom he had saved.

Why did he keep on thinking about her?

She was an unthankful ingrate.

A cute one at that.

Woah! Where'd that though come from?

Both of their hearts had been pounding. Hers maybe even more so.

He could remember exactly how they were. A look that contained a little bit a fear, yet a little bit of wanting at the same time covered her face. Her breath had picked up a little and he could hear both of their hearts pounding. Her lips, small and plush, anxiously waiting to be kissed. He could only imagine what her lips on his would feel like…and what they could-HOLD THAT THOUGHT!

Nothing even happened and he was already getting aroused.

He had better stop before his 'little kodachi' decided to visit the world again after so many years. (a/n: I'm not quite sure who's fic I got that from, but I hope you don't mind that I used it, I just couldn't resist… if you don't like me using it, tell me and I'll remove it from the story)

Shaking his head, he attempted to clear his thoughts of that girl.

How shameless…I don't even know her name…

He focused on clearing his thought for a couple of moments and brought the current problem at hand to mind. What was he going to do about Naguchi and his remaning ring members? He could easily slay them all in the middle of the night, but that would cause to big of a scene. A big time restaurant chain owner mysteriously killed in the middle of the night! He could see the headlines now. No doubt that Oniwabanshuu would probably be blamed for their deaths because of Rikai Naguchi's infatuation with Misao.

Misao…

I wonder what she's like now… If she's eighteen and has lots of suitors, she must have become quite beautiful…

I cannot forget to find her a suitable husband. I'll deal with that ordeal after Naguchi is taken care of.

He looked out the window again and noticeed the sky start to slightly lighten. He got up and went to change out of his clothes.

He also noticed that he was still wearing the same slothes that he used the day he saved that girl.

That girl…

Ok now, lets back away from those dangerous thoughts.

He changed into a pair of dark blue loose pants and a button up longs sleeve shirt. (a/n:kinda like the outfit he wore when he fought Kenshin at the Kyoto Arc during the Shishio saga)

He slipped on his traditional beige trench coat and slung his twin kodachi sheath over his shoulder. He slipped on his shoes, packed up any loose belongings into his small bag, and hitched it out of the room.

He went down to the reception area and exited the inn. He looked around and noticed that no one was there yet. It was still a little bit early, so he looked for an open teashop near by.

Luckily he found one that just opened up two shops down from the inn.

He entered the shop and took a seat. A young woman came up to him to take his order.

"Good morning sir, is their anything you would like to order?"

"A cup of green tea please."

She smiled at him, "Coming right up."

He nodded his head in response and she walked away. He took a moment to take a good look around. The shop was small, quite cozy. There was no else in the shop besides him next to the people who worked there.

He noticed the girl come back with a cup on a small dish. He handed her the amount of money it costed and she left saying thank you with a smile.

He sat there, peacefully drinking his tea…loosing all concept of time.

Back at the inn

"Where's Aoshi-sama?" Shikijou asked stepping out the door.

"It's been about twenty minutes since sun rise and he's never late."

"I dunno." Replied Hyottoko.

"Me neither", replied Beshimi.

"I don't have the slightest clue." said Hannya.

They all stood there for a couple of minutes, wondering where on earth the Okashira could be.

"Unless!" they all said minus Hannya at the same time,

"He's-" Hyottoko said,

"out-" Beshimi continued,

"drinking-" Shikijou continued,

"green tea." Hannya finished.

They all sighed.

Only Kami-sama knows the extent of Aoshi's love for green tea.

But, they all knew how long it took him to drink it.

Back at the tea house

Several minutes passed.

Then several more minutes.

Then several more.

And several more.

And a few more.

Finally he noticed that sun was partially up, probably thirty minutes passed sunrise, he chugged the rest of his tea down and swiftly walked back to the entrance of the inn.

He noticed that his loyal four were standing together, conversing about something, when they all suddenly sighed a big sigh.

He came up behind them.

"What's wrong?"

It took all Hyottoko's, Behimi's, and Shikijou's will power not scream.

The three had looks of suppressed fear on their faces.

Hannya just stood there for her noticed Aoshi's presence a slipt second before he reached them.

None of them spoke a word, but just stared at him.

Aoshi, suspicious of the way they were acting, looked at each one of them slowly.

He looked at the sun, noting that it was well past sunrise, decided to drop the subject and get a move on to cover lost ground. It was going to be along day if he planned on getting to Kyoto by nightfall.

"Let us off. We have a long day ahead of us, and we have already lost some valuable time." He started down the road, Hannya, Shikijou, Beshimi, and Hyottoko in tow.

that's the end of chapter 3 yall! i know i didn't update for a long time, but don't forget me! and please...

REVIEW! it keeps me writing. the more the reviews, the more likely that i'll update sooner! so, REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS!

Cereis out