Being Okashira
Chapter Five: Guidelines for Leadership
He pressed his fingers to her forehead. She was so small and soft. This little thing was the head of the Oniwabanshuu?
It seemed like such an unlikely thing.
He could not imagine this girl training through rainstorms and dodging kunai. Why was it so hard?
He tensed as there came a loud rattle from the hall and urgent footsteps. Voices followed, rising up in panic.
Aoshi hurriedly released Misao and walked to the door about to slide it open when Hannya appeared.
The older, masked man immediately paused, staring at Aoshi. No doubt wondering what he was doing in her room at this time of night.
It didn't help his cause Misao was in her sleeping clothes on the floor either.
The several moment span of silence was broken by Misao.
"What's going on?"
"You need to hurry. You, take her, get out of the Aoiya," Hannya ordered.
"What?" Misao gasped, standing.
Aoshi didn't hesitate, he all but dove for her. Grasping the now struggling girl he pulled her into his arms and fled out the nearby window. His feet landed them steadily in a tree, but her struggling was going to knock them both flat to the ground and into the arms of the unexpected enemy if she didn't start cooperating.
"You're too important to go back," he chided. "You can't stay."
He didn't say what he wanted, which was to tell her she was being immature, afraid the girl would look crushed. Nor, however, was he going to stand by and allow her to do what she wanted.
Her struggles ceased and he allowed his hold to loosen. Dropping them to the ground, he quickly disappeared into the tree line, heading for the covert area where the Okashira was to be protected at times like these.
Misao woke as she was jarred from her sleep. Immediately she became aware of several things, none of which pleased her.
The first of which, she was in Aoshi's lap.
The second of which, they were alone and it was dark.
Lastly, it was raining. She could smell it in the air, her clothes were damp and she could hear it quite clearly.
She pulled herself up, trying not to blush and feeling as though she'd failed. She couldn't see Aoshi but she knew, she knew, it was him.
Calmly, and in a manner that annoyed her, he pushed her back against him, cuddling her back against his chest as though that was where she belonged and objections wouldn't be tolerated.
She growled.
"Aoshi!"
"I won't let you go back before daylight."
"I have to-" she protested.
"I will not violate the code. Your safety is more important," he replied. "Relax; daylight is not far, go back to sleep."
Misao settled again in his lap, for the moment secure in the knowledge she wasn't going anywhere. She couldn't really see. She didn't have the first clue where she was or how they'd gotten there.
In fact, it was strange she'd fallen asleep during the trip. She could remember so vividly being held in his arms while he moved through the forest, presumably on his way here to this location.
She stared up, trying to imagine the expression on his face. Most of the time he was just plain expressionless. How could a person live like that? Without smiling or frowning?
"Are you an orphan?"
Maybe it was an insensitive question. Maybe she shouldn't have asked.
It was too late for second thoughts, the question was loose.
"Yes," he quietly replied. "Why?"
"You seem like what I imagine an orphan with no family would be like. A kid taken in by a ninja group spends his childhood learning deadly arts and the realities of war and killing people. Jiya never let me do any of those things, I was only allowed in easy missions. "
"You are too important to be stained by such things."
She frowned.
"You're important to the Oniwabanshuu, aren't you?" she asked.
"I suppose so," he seemed reluctant to agree.
"That's why he wants you to be the next Okashira, then, isn't it?"
Silence was her reply.
"I'm not stupid, you know. Soujiro might be the Oniwabanshuu's best assassin, but he's always been a follower, not a leader. Kamatari isn't leader material either, he's showy and flamboyant, we'd be bankrupt within a month."
Was he looking at her? Trying to look at her, at least?
The thought caused her to blush.
So she'd just admitted what she suspected all along, and now what? Silence?
He wasn't even going to answer her?
He wasn't even going to bother himself with formulating some kind of response? She'd just all but admitted she knew it was a scheme by Jiya to pilfer her off with a husband and put the Oniwabanshuu group into the hands of a more competent leader, him, and all she was getting was the sound of raindrops in the background!
Finally, he deemed it appropriate to speak up. "Do you disapprove?"
She blinked.
Disapprove?
No one ever asked her opinion, she thought. No one like him. Not in the way he just did. In a fashion so utterly serious, as though her opinion actually mattered. She'd spent her entire life feeling as though getting her opinion had just been a mere courtesy.
Did she disapprove of him?
She hung her head.
How was she supposed to know what she approved of? She didn't hate the guy, that was a plus, right?
"I don't know," she answered honestly.
"Would you accept me? As your husband? Would you turn over the Oniwabanshuu to my care?"
She thought. "No," she answered simply and honestly. "I couldn't do that."
It wasn't an answer that would please him, but she wasn't looking to make him happy. It was what was honest.
She wouldn't turn the Oniwabanshuu over to him. She didn't know him. Didn't trust him enough to take care of her or the Oniwan group.
They were her family. If he wanted the job, he was going to have to do more than just 'be'.
"Then you deem me to be unsuitable?" he continued. By the tone of his voice, her rejection had meant little. It should have been a salve, to keep her from worrying about hurting his feelings.
It wasn't.
"The people at the Aoiya are my family. I can't just let anybody step in and take over the job of caring for them. Even if we aren't technically supposed to exist anymore, the Oniwabanshuu is still a powerful group. Your recommendations just aren't good enough to prove you trust worthy for taking over my family."
He leaned down so that she could feel his breath against her skin. "That's what you want? For me to prove my trustworthiness?"
"Life probably wasn't easy before, I guess that's why you walk around looking so gloomy. Lighten up a little; the Oniwabanshuu can be your family too, just like they are mine."
The arms wrapped around her tightened as a breeze swept in the small opening where she guessed the door was.
His reply was again, no reply and she gave up waiting for one. Sometime between the end of the rain and dawn, she fell victim to sleep again in the warmth of his embrace.
Aoshi stretched before reaching for his kodachi. When he turned, however, he was met, face to face, by Hannya.
"How are things?"
"Things?" Aoshi inquired.
"With Misao," Hannya clarified. "Last night the event was minor, just some thieves, but we do not take chances on her safety."
Aoshi nodded. Very reasonable. She was the future of their group. She would 'breed' the next leader, and if things went his way, he would help her with that.
"Things are fine."
"Has she said something? I spoke to her this morning, but she was unusually quiet."
"Not really," Aoshi replied evasively.
"I'm not feeling of good health; I trust you will see to her care."
Aoshi nodded, tightening his grip upon his weapon as he left the dojo.
After he'd brought them back to the Aoiya early in the morning and tucked her back into her bed, he hadn't been able to sleep.
Maybe it was her words, maybe it was his memory of her in his arms, maybe it was just her, period.
The Aoiya was the center headquarters of the Oniwabanshuu ninja group, but the fast-paced, energetic atmosphere he might have expected from the bustling place was simply not to be.
Headquarters though it might have been, he'd encountered more action at remote outposts along the skirts of Tokyo. Perhaps that was to be expected though.
Day to day activities at the Aoiya dealt primarily with storage shortages in the kitchen, minor squabbles among members about dojo use, shouting matches over misplaced reports, or, and he dreaded the last, lack of workers in the Aoiya kitchen during the busy hours.
He'd learned just how much he hated that chore last week and he was determined to avoid the duty again.
He stopped along the path glancing around.
Despite all this, he liked this place. It was warm and welcoming. This place, he thought, was Misao's home. Where Misao guarded her family, the family she would, as of yet, not turn over to him.
That little notion made him smile. She'd simplified what he needed to do, and since yesterday he'd had an entirely new perception of the Aoiya.
This wasn't just the headquarters of a secret ninja organization. This was an extension of a family that Misao was descended from, a place that, beyond its code, meant something. Something more to the heart of the young woman whose inheritance it was to see it continued and successful.
The nagging downside of this reality was what he expected was her soft heart. An unwillingness to see or allow anyone to die, which could provide for a deficiency of effectiveness and cripple the organization completely.
Nor could that be completely true though, she had sent him and several others out just days ago on an extremely dangerous mission where no backup was immediately available and avoidance of death could not be guaranteed.
He held up his kodachi, staring at the sheathed blades. 'Home'. He hadn't thought of a 'home' for a long time. Not since he'd received this weapon in his hands.
Either way, this place was his temporary 'home'.
Upon hearing a distance rumble he turned his gaze up. More rain. It had stopped raining some hours earlier, but it had been overcast all day. A wind rustled through the trees, an eerie precursor of the upcoming storm.
To one side near the main building, he heard the slide of the external door and then the snap as it was pulled shut. A moment later a figure came around the bend, and paused.
Misao could not be mistaken for anyone else, he thought, watching as she too stopped.
He bowed. "Okashira."
Misao stood there silently, boldly meeting his eyes.
"I'm glad you're here."
She smiled, temporarily disarming him.
"Okasssshhhiiirrraaa!" A shrill call came before the door was hauled open and around the corner came another figure.
One that caused him to internally grimace.
"Hey, good that you're here too. I have a job for you," she pointed at Kamatari and then Aoshi. "You and you."
Aoshi blinked. She wasn't serious. She wouldn't really send him out with that weird cross-dressing man would she?
"Oh goody! He's a cute one," Kamatari squealed.
Misao pulled a stern face and Kamatari straightened.
"Your job is simple; you are to pick up Chisato and Takeo. They are 8-year old twins we adopted here at the Aoiya several years ago. They are currently training in the next town over with an archery specialist, but their time is up, so they need to come back home."
Aoshi almost felt his jaw drop.
She wasn't serious!
He wasn't really being reduced to the job of baby-sitter, was he?
Her gaze and tone were even. Those really were his orders. He fought the scowl valiantly, but only succeeded in holding it off until she was out of eyesight.
"Oh, don't look so grumpy. You want to win her, don't you? Chisato and Takeo are two of Misao's most precious treasures."
Aoshi blinked turning a glance to Kamatari.
He stared for a moment before turning on his heel and stalking off. The sooner he left, the sooner he was back - whether or not the cross-dresser came along was insignificant.
End Chapter Five.
