Author's Note: I'm back!

The Winter of My Assassin Lover

-Previous Chapter

"Ah, the moon is so beautiful tonight," Soujiro said to no one in particular, continuing his motion with the cloth over his sword. He looked down affectionately at his weapon. "My dear sword, we're going to have such a wonderful time tomorrow night. And do you know why? " His response was silence, but he kept on talking. His bangs hid his eyes and he smiled, a truly deranged smile. "We're going to make it rain red. Don't you think that would fun, my dear sword?"

He looked up at the moon. "I'm sure that'll teach people to refrain from touching what is ours."

-Chapter 7

Kaoru's internal alarm clock told her to get up. It was barely 5 in the morning, not even the sun was up yet. She sleepily walked to her window and opened it, shivering as the cold winds of autumn danced around her body.

"Today's the day," Kaoru said to herself softly," Mom, I've going to live like you did."

---

Misao was in the servant's quarters sleeping like no tomorrow. After all, caring for someone that was crying their eyes out on your well-earned tofu can be quite tiring. She turned in her cotton sheets, bending in a fetal position so the short blanket can accommodate her chilly feet.

Out of the silence of the mansion, Misao heard a crash and an audible," Oh shit!" but shrugged it off as her imagination when she fell asleep again.

---

Kaoru had already packed her essentials in a large woolsack she had been saving for occasions such as these. Her hair was tangled, courtesy of her own doing, and some strands were sticking up form above her head. She was clad in a peasant's tunic and her feet were covered in only a pair of straw shoes… if one could even call it shoes. It was more of a thin covering. The girl tiptoed across the hallways, wary because even one wrong step can wake up the whole household.

Kaoru continued walking, her head turned in the other direction to make sure no one was following her. Because of this, Kaoru bumped into a table that carried a very expensive vase. "Oh shit!" she whispered heatedly, instantly slapping her mouth with both of her hands.

She froze, making sure not to make a sound in case someone heard the crash. After a few minutes of making sure the vase was taken care of, Kaoru walked out the door, her heart beating. All her life, she'd waited for this moment to come, but, now that she's finally here, Kaoru wasn't so sure anymore.

'No, Kaoru,' she thought to herself,' you've got to do this. For mom. For Misao… For Sou-kun.'

At long last, she creaked the door open and walked out.

---

Misao didn't perceive the shards of broken vase tucked carefully behind the table as she walked right past it with a tray of warm oatmeal in her hands. "Kaoru-sama!" she sang out, knocking on the door with one hand while holding the tray with another," You're breakfast is ready! It's your favorite! Oatmeal!"

There was no answer, not even the shuffling sound of bed sheets. Misao snorted. "Are you indecent in there!"

When there was no reply again, the maid decided to barge in without permission.

"Hm?" She noticed that her mistress's bed was neatly made, not a wrinkle in sight. 'That's odd. She almost never makes her bed.' And that's when she saw a piece of paper laying upon the folding sheets.

Dear Misao,

I am truly sorry that I left the mansion without taking you with me. But it was time for me to go. I just had to. I'm sorry if my father does anything to you out of anger. I didn't mean for things to go this wrong. But I've already decided. Remember how I always wanted to live as my mother had? Well, I'm living it. I hope you'll be happy for me, knowing that I'm happy as well. Tell Aoshi that his student dropped out… and be happy with him… please. For me?

Sincerely,

Kaoru

Misao dropped the tray she was holding and fell upon her knees, ignoring the cuts she had received from the shattered glass. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she only said one thing," Kaoru-sama."

---

Aoshi glanced at his watch. It was 7 o'clock in the morning. When he had received word that his student would be staying in Matsue for a few weeks, he felt a bit irritated. 'Why does the teacher have to follow the student!' But, after all, he was talking about Kaoru here, the one that saw through his icy exterior, the one that matched him up with Misao.

'I guess travel can do me some good.' He arrived at the Kamiya's Matsue mansion. He opened the door only to be greeted by a loud crash. Aoshi instinctively knew that it came from his pupil's room and rushed up there immediately, abandoning his luggage at the front door.

"Misao!" he yelled," What's going on here!"

The maid remained unmoving from her kneeling position on the floor. The Latin tutor crouched in front of her, shaking her shoulders in order to get her to talk.

"Misao! Tell me! What happened?" he asked calmly, trying not to wipe her tears away. There were more important things. "Where's Kaoru?"

"Kao-Kaoru-sama," the girl choked out on her own tears," Kaoru-sama…"

Aoshi's patience was wearing thin. "Misao… please tell me what happened."

She choked out again, this time loudly," Kaoru-sama! Kaoru-sama! Kaoru-sama's gone!" Misao shook uncontrollably, as if she was being possessed. "Kaoru-sama! Kaoru-sama left me alone! She's not coming back! She's not coming back!"

"Wait! Hold on!" Aoshi pleaded, waiting until he had fully digested what Misao had said," What happened to Kaoru?"

Misao managed to point at the letter laying on the bed and continued sobbing hysterically. "Kaoru-sama! Kaoru-sama left me! She left me!"

Aoshi read the letter and his eyes widened at what it said.

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thundersister: I'm sorry again. It's so short. I must suck. XD Trust me, I'm getting to plot as quickly as possible. If I go too fast, you won't understand the characters and how they act as such.

Take Misao for example. Usually, maids just go "Oh no!" or "Oh dear!" when their mistress has gone missing, right? But Misao acted quite differently… as you can tell.

After all, I don't aim at making the story more entertaining… (Well, I actually do but that's 2nd on my priority list) I aim at making it better.

Now that I got that off my chest, time for questions!

Q: I hope Sou will realize this soon though…/or/ I hope Sou will know about this soon….

A: Know what! Know what! I'm the author here! I'm supposed to know these things!

Q: Why didn't you let Kaoru run after him!

A: Because, my dear reader, if she did then that would produced a far different ending to this story than I originally planned.

Q: NOOO! LEMONS! AAHH!

A: Hahaha! It's good to know that there are others out there craving for some sexual Sou/Kao excitement! But, unfortunately, due to the circumstantial drama in my life, and my selfish reviewer needs, you won't find your wanted lemon here. BUT I might post a slight lime in my next fic. So I hope you'll all review it even more than you did this one.