Under the Crystal Moon

By: Charmed Wolf

Disclaimer still sits there; I do not own Rurouni Kenshin…sorry.

Let him go…

Aoshi was about the point here he's ready to cut his hair short, it was know that he had forgotten that accident that almost left him permanently in a wheelchair. Of course, everyone was glad to have their okashira back; even Misao was glad that he was back to be her Aoshi-sama. "Misao-chan, it's time to get up now," Okon tried to wake Misao, Aoshi was now 17 years old and it was December now.

Ah, winter meant the unbearable pain again of facing the jerks from hell; Aoshi just knew what was going on instead of just asking. 'Now what am I suppose to do?' Aoshi was just as he always ha been since his parents' death, Okina knew that Aoshi really never showed any kind of emotion when he's around. Okon always knew that the winter wasn't always Aoshi's favorite time of the year; Omasu saw that Aoshi was barely eating. "Are feeling well, Okashira?" Omasu handed Aoshi a cup of hot tea before having to go to take a bath, the young okashira slowly nodded as he sipped at the tea.

After the tea, Aoshi headed to go take his long hair for the last time, it was time now for him to cut his hair short. 'Why am I to do this ritual?' Aoshi thoughts always came to his parents and younger brother; he tried to put all thoughts aside as he gets his hair washed that night.

He gone back to his room to cut his hair to the shorten length; Okina held a box under his arm and it was mark with Aoshi's name. "Aoshi, I found this box for you," Okina slowly walked into his room to try to talk to Aoshi for awhile, of course, Okina knew how difficult it was to talk to Aoshi. He saw Aoshi pull the knife out to cut his hair, his hair was now shorter and Aoshi didn't like it.

"Aoshi, you should keep your hair like that," Okina looked at the hair on the floor beside the young man, Aoshi made the motion for Okina to sit in front of him. Okon didn't know what they were going to talk about that night, Aoshi wasn't afraid of being like his father, it was that he didn't want look like his father. "Okina, I don't want to look like my father," Aoshi noticed the box in front of him; Omasu knew what was in that box…a black leather trench coat.

Okina told Aoshi that he already had inherited his father's looks; the problem was that Aoshi never smiled since he was only 4 years old and that was a long time…

"Aoshi, look in the mirror and tell me what you see," Okina handed Aoshi a mirror to look into, Okina was right; he did look like his father. Aoshi sighed and looked into the mirror telling Okina what he saw in the mirror, just as saying that Aoshi was the mirror image of his father. "Okina, are you sure wanted to give him that trench coat?" Okon knew that trench coat looked like Shinomori Hiro's trench coat, Aoshi opened the box and his eyes widen at the site of the black leather.

Okina just nodded as Aoshi tried on the coat, Aoshi laid down that night only to find out that he couldn't sleep. 'Why do I have to look like my father?' No emotion showed on Aoshi's face as he sat in his futon thinking, Suki always looked like there mother and now he couldn't remember his parents.

Suki walked into Aoshi room to talk for awhile, he noticed that his brother wasn't in his room and the motorcycle helmet was gone. "Okina, have you seen my brother?" Suki started to get worried about Aoshi; Okina knew where Suki's older brother could have gone to. It was to the Western Cliffs where their parents were buried after that fateful night, it was maybe because he couldn't sleep or it was time for him to go out on his own because he needed to search for himself.

"Suki, don't worry so much about your brother," Okina was uncertain of what Aoshi was doing at the Western Cliffs, that was making Suki very uneasy and worried about Aoshi.

Meanwhile, at the Western Cliffs.

Nakamura Gai was trying to convince Aoshi into fighting and it seemed to work, but the draw back was that the young man could actually kill him. "Nakamura, do you think I could really be that stupid?" Aoshi saw Gai nodding his head at that question, that made him angry and he didn't show it on his face. Gai saw that Aoshi had a kodachi drawn and a fight was on, he knew Aoshi was stronger than the last fight. "Shinomori, you are still nothing more than just a brat," Nakamura Gai's laughing filled that night, he had severely wounded Aoshi already and it was Aoshi's luck that Hannya and Shikijo had found him. It was a good thing that Aoshi didn't take his motorcycle; Hannya carried Aoshi unconscious form back to the Aoi-ya and it was a mess.

"Oh Kami! Hannya, what happened to him?" Okina quickly had the table cleaned off to have Hannya lay Aoshi down; Okon had to keep Suki out of the room letting Okina work to bandage Aoshi's wounds. Omasu worked to help Okina bandage up Aoshi's wounds, Okina was surprised that his young Okashira didn't cry out in pain as he was bandaging up the wounds.

"My guess he was fighting his rival, Okina," Hannya looked at a resting Aoshi; he knew that young okashira was still a bit too weak to move from the table to his room. Okina knew it was better to let Aoshi rest before being moved to his room, Hannya stayed with Aoshi through the night to make sure no one had disturbed him. 'That young man acts too much like his father,' Okina knew that Aoshi's father always acted so brash sometimes, but in the end, he always seemed to get to get things done.

Flashback

Hiro was sitting at the table when Katsuyumi walked into the room, he knew there was something on her mind. "Hiro, there is something I need to tell you," Katsuyumi sat next to Hiro and told him that she was pregnant; it wasn't long before they were married. A month later was the birth of their first born son; they decided to name him Aoshi as they planned to.

"Hiro, I fear that someone will be after Aoshi," Hiro knew they were in the midst of a rivalry with the Nakamura, he hoped that his first born would become okashira of the Oniwabanshu.

Hiro never dismissed the fears of someone coming after his family, his wife knew they were going to have to fight them sooner or later. "I will ask Okina to help us to ask the okashira to take in Aoshi if something is to happen to us," Katsuyumi knew that was a good idea, she wanted Aoshi to be well taken care of if she and Hiro were killed by their rival.

Her husband did managed to ask Okina for help and the okashira got himself involved with what was going on, Katsuyumi thought that was a little bit too much help, but it was needed. "Hiro, Aoshi is going to be 2 years soon," Katsuyumi was revealing that she was going to have another baby soon, it made Hiro to feel good to have his family grown. He thought it was very good to have another child, it was known that Hiro willing to sacrifice his life to protect his family.

End of flashback

"Okina, I want to see my brother," there was weariness in Suki's voice and it made Okina worry about the boy in front of him, he didn't want Suki crying over his brother's injuries in fear of infection.

Aoshi would say it was nothing and everyone would know it wasn't nothing, everyone knew that Aoshi never cried out in pain hiding his feelings very well. "Suki, you must know your brother is very hurt and he needs to rest," Okina had Aoshi moved to his room from the table to rest; bandages were constantly changed to decrease the chances of Aoshi getting an infection. Okon had kept a wet cloth on her okashira's forehead to try decreasing the fever, every once in awhile Aoshi would moan in pain and would be given to him when he needed it to stop the pain. "He's still resting which I think he does need," Omasu was preparing more bandages for Aoshi wounds.

Over the few weeks Aoshi had gotten better from his injuries, there was going to sometime to adjust with Aoshi not going to be there. "Jiya, where is Aoshi-sama going?" Okina had no idea were Aoshi will be going now; Aoshi was the only one that knew where he was going to be now. Omasu knew that Aoshi was now grown up; Misao had to be put to her bed to sleep for the night.

"Okon, did you get something for Aoshi when leaves tomorrow morning?" Okina watch Aoshi sleep in his futon and it seem to him that he was having a nightmare about the nightmare that enveloped his parents, he knew that the bruises where from his uncle that was an alcoholic. But it was like that Aoshi was living that nightmare when his uncle came into the room, the young man was smart on not raising his voice at his uncle, instead it was of ice as his eyes.

"Omasu, what is Shiyo doing here?" Okon was afraid that Shiyo would try to kill Aoshi, but instead, it was the other way around. Aoshi certainly did not want his uncle there because of the pain that was caused, that wasn't just for him it was for Suki too.

To my reviewers:

Lightning-storm222: I'm glad you read and reviewed my fic, with the 1st chapter, it was written on a different program that didn't have a spell checker. Well, anyway, thank you for reading and reviewing my fic, it's very much appreciated and cherished.

Sachiya: Well, I hope you like this chapter like you did the last chapter, I do appreciate your reviews so much, and they make me feel good. So thank you for reading and reviewing, MWE WIKES IT!

Okay, people, I need reviews to write…please read and review.