a/n: this is for u, kitty! dedicated to u! i hope u all like it! don't forget to review!

disclaimer: i don't own anything...

Two Lost Souls (soujiro/misao)
Aoshi-Sama's weaselgirl

Misao sat, waiting in anticipation. Aoshi had said he would allow her summoning him. She couldn't wait. It was finally time. She was going to tell him how she felt. He'd been talking to her more, spending more time together and she felt that it was right. She giggled in her excitement.

She heard a soft knock on her shoji and she jumped up, yelling, "Come in!"

"Misao? What did you want to talk about?"

"I… I wanted to tell you something," she said quietly, her enthusiasm dying a bit. (ok maybe more than a bit…)

"Yes?"

"Aishiteru!" she burst out.

"I… um, Misao? I, uh," Aoshi was at a loss for words.

"Do you… do you feel the same?" she asked anxiously.

"Misao, I'm afraid you've misread my attentions… It's just now that Okina was away, I thought perhaps you would be lonely and I didn't want you upset when he returned," he said nervously.

"B-but… Aoshi-Sama…"

"I'm sorry."

"N-no…"

-------------------

Misao set out, turning around to glimpse the Aoiya one last time. As she did so, she felt her eyes burning again, just thinking of how she had been rejected so easily. He never loved me, she thought miserably. How foolish she'd been…

She dejectedly continued her journey, knowing she couldn't go home. She'd just make a constant fool of herself, and Aoshi knew how she felt now. No, she couldn't turn back, no matter how much she longed to do so. She would just be unhappy if she did that. So she continued on.

By the time she made it to Tokyo, she was exhausted. She'd spent all of the money she'd brought with her already on inns and food. So Tokyo had been the most obvious choice, for she had friends lived there. She knew Kaoru would take her in no matter what her situation was.

She knocked softly on the dojo's gate and waited for a reply. Kenshin swung the door open and stared for a moment.

"Misao-dono?"

"Hiya…" she said without her usual exuberance.

"Kaoru-dono!" he called towards the dojo.

"Don't tell me you're still calling her with that stupid honorific?" Misao asked.

"Umm…"

"Misao-chan! What are you doing here? Come in, come in! Kenshin don't be rude, let her in!" Kaoru whacked Kenshin's (hee hee… I luv u kitty) head as she reprimanded him.

"Would you mind if I crashed here for a while? I'm kinda low on money at the moment," she semi explained.

"Of course! Come on, I'll give you a room," she grabbed her friends hand and pulled her inside.

Over the next few days, Misao fell into the routine around the dojo. She would get up, bounce on Kaoru's futon until she woke up, and then they would go spar together since Yahiko had been spending most of his time at the Akabeko. Kaoru was more than happy to have a girlfriend she could take to, instead of a house full of men who really didn't understand anything she wanted to talk about, so Misao was a gift.

"Mmm, Misao?" Kaoru questioned lightly, one afternoon.

"Hai?"

"You never actually did tell me why you came all the way to Tokyo and by yourself at that. Not that I mind! I love having you here!" she added seeing the crestfallen look on the younger girl's face.

"Oh… Promise not to tell anyone?"

"I promise, hang on." Kaoru got up, threw the shoji behind them open and gave Yahiko 500 swings to complete in the dojo.

"Okay, now you can tell," Kaoru told her.

"Aoshi rejected me…" she said quietly.

"WHAAAT?"

"ORO!"

"Shut up, Kenshin!" Kaoru shouted, turning her full attention back to Misao. "He did WHAT!"

"I confessed, he told me he didn't love me……"

"Oh, honey!" Kaoru wrapped her arms around the younger girl. "He doesn't realize what a wonderful person you are… doesn't realize it at all…"

"Oh, Kaoru…" Misao returned the embrace, becoming reduced to tears on her friend's loving shoulder.

"Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked sometime later.

"Hmm?" She looked up from where she was comforting Misao.

"Dinner will be ready shortly," he told her. She smiled wistfully, laying the now sleeping Misao down.

"Alright, thank you Kenshin." She smiled sadly again before walking towards her room. Misao had broken reality in for her. She knew there was a chance that Kenshin would reject her now….

-----------------

"Thank you for everything, Kaoru-san! I'm sure I'll be okay from here on out, now that I have money. I'll come visit if ever I'm in the area!" Misao called.

"You better, you ronin!" Kaoru answered.

"Sessha can't believe Misao-dono has become a rurouni… ororo… It just doesn't seem right," Kenshin murmured. Kaoru cast a sad smile in his direction.

"Love makes you do crazy things," she said before pinching his cheek and heading off towards her room as the young girl disappeared into the horizon.

-----

Misao felt like she was losing connection to anyone and everyone she ever loved. First it had been Aoshi, and now she was walking away from Kaoru and the others at the dojo. She wiped her tears and put on a strong face. I won't let it get me down, she thought.

She walked with her face down until nightfall was upon her and she had to find shelter in the woods. She made camp, laying her coat down to make a bed. She wasn't stupid in the ways of survival. After all, she was Oniwabanshuu, and she'd done this before when she was… searching for Aoshi.

She shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts. Nothing good would ever come from them. Only pain… She closed her eyes and laid down on her coat, willing her body to find sleep.

Some odd number of hours later, she awoke to the sound and smell of breakfast. She was ready to hop out of her futon when she remembered that she wasn't in a futon, that there shouldn't have been all the signs of someone cooking breakfast at all. She carefully eased off her coat and snuck towards the source of the noise. What she saw shocked, amazed, and scared her a little.

She remembered him, of course. It was hard to forget such a good looking young man. It was in Shingetsu village that she'd first seen Seta Soujiro. He'd sided with Shishio from the beginning and he'd started a fight with Himura. She crouched in the bushes, knowing full well that this man was dangerous. He'd managed to break Himura's sakabatou in two, and that was proof enough for her.

Still… she couldn't help but be amazed. There he was, cooking breakfast as if he didn't have a care in the world. But, she thought, shouldn't he be like, plotting revenge against Himura, or something! I mean, his master was defeated…

"Oh, so you're awake, are you?"

"Ahh!" Misao screeched, falling out of the bushes she'd been hiding in.

"Did… did I startle you?" he asked, worry clear on his face.

"Y-You! G-Get away from, Tenken!" she yelled, backing away on her backside furiously.

"Ooh. I thought you looked familiar." He frowned, as if chiding himself for not remembering. (a/n: this is after his emotions are out of whack, remember?) He made a move towards her and she shrieked her protest.

"Not a step closer!" She drew her kunai and aimed at him. "I won't hesitate to use them!"

"I'm not going to hurt you," he told her, a note of alarm in his voice. "You didn't quite look like you could cope on your own."

"Well I can! So back off!" She let the first handful of kunai fly his way, which he skillfully dodged.

"I've changed my ways thanks to Himura-san's wise words, so please," he pleaded.

"Just leave me alone!"

"You know, you're a very pretty girl." He smiled a broad grin that set Misao's cheeks aflame.

"Don't try to flatter your way out of this one, Tenken!"

"I'm not trying." That stubborn smile remained.

"Grrr! Flying bird kick!"

"Whoops! Were you aiming for me?" he asked after he'd once again dodged her attack.

"You really piss me off!"

"So I've noticed."

"I really didn't mean to cause any trouble, Miss…"

"Makimachi Misao," she filled in reluctantly.

"Ah, Misao-san. Now, what would you be doing so far away from the Kyoto intelligence branch of the Oniwabanshuu?"

She gaped at him. "H-How did you…?"

"I worked with Aoshi-san, you forget. He had many tales of the little ninja," he explained.

"A-Aoshi-Sama did?"

"It sounded like you were very dear to him."

"You're wrong," she whispered. "He doesn't see me as anything more than a hindrance to the Oniwabanshuu."

"I'm sure that's not true. After all, you're a very nice girl."

"No, I tried to take things further. It didn't work out." And that blush was back…

"I'm very sorry to hear that, Misao-san. He really doesn't know what he's lost," Soujiro told her.

"I don't need your sympathy!" she glared at his breakfast. "Or your food!"

"Well, Misao-san," he started, gazing at her with his bright blue orbs. "It won't do you well to start off you day on an empty stomach. I insist that you eat with me."

"I…"

"Come on. I promise it's not poisoned."

"I was taught to never accept food from an enemy."

Soujiro sighed before answering. "I do not wish to be your enemy, Misao-san. I merely wish for you to eat with me."

"Well, if you were Himura's enemy, you're my enemy!"

"Was," he corrected mildly. "I was his enemy. I saw the error of my ways."

"If I had a sen for every time I heard a bad guy say that…"

"I'm no longer bad. I'm rurouni now, like Himura-san before me," he explained. "It appears that you are in the same boat as me, Misao-san."

"I… well, yeah, I guess so," she replied reluctantly.

"So now, time to eat! Do you like miso?"

"Um, yeah… I still don't like you and I promise that if this food is poisoned, I'll know," she warned him.

"Misao-san, I would never poison a girl as pretty you are." He smiled at her again as he handed her a bowl.

She blushed and gladly accepted her dish of miso with a muffled 'thank you.' She ate in silence, watching the new found rurouni as she did. She really couldn't deny how good looking he was. There was no way he was as good looking as Aoshi, but he had this draw to him… He was cute. Like a little boy. Only he wasn't…

"How old are you?" she finally asked; it had been nagging her.

"Eighteen," he told her.

"I'm seventeen!" she informed him. Her natural exuberance was starting to shine through.

He nodded, accepting her words as he chewed his own breakfast. Misao was nice enough. And could probably provide enough conversation for the both of them. He smiled at that thought. She hadn't opened up very much, but then she was probably taught not to. At least until she knew that she could trust them. She was after all, Oniwabanshuu.

"Sou?" she asked after a moment. "Why are you a rurouni?"

He smiled at her before answering. "I realized that I'd made some bad choices in my life. Shishio-san… Shishio-san was one of them. Himura-san showed me that there was nothing wrong with showing a little emotion now and then and I should find a new life. I thought traveling was the best way to do so."

"I… oh."

"And you, Misao-san?"

"Personal reasons."

"Aoshi-san?"

"That's none of your business!"

"I never said it was."

"But you-"

"Would you like to journey with me?"

"As in, like, wander with you?"

"You could put it that way," he answered.

"I…"

"I would love some company," he tried to convince her.

"But…"

"You still do not trust me?"

"No," she admitted. "I can't."

"Misao, if I'd wanted to kill you, trust me, you'd be dead," he told her with a smile.

"That's comforting." She glared at him.

"I know, but at least you know that I don't want you dead." He smiled at her again.

"I thought you were over those freaky smiles!"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, but you're so gosh darn pretty I feel like smiling when I'm around you."

"Stop that!" she commanded, her eyes flaring to accompany her blush.

"Stop what?"

"Complimenting me!"

"But it's the truth," he said, frowning for once.

"If that were true I wouldn't be here! Aoshi would love me and I'd be happy by now, dammit!" she screamed, tears streaming down her pale face.

"Misao-san, perhaps you should sit down," Soujiro offered, helping her to the ground.

"I'm sick of this! People who say stuff just to make me feel better- it never works!"

"Misao-"

"Sou… Soujiro, I'm so lost…"

"I'll help you find your way," he promised, hugging her.

"How do I know I can trust you? After all, you tried to kill Himura," she asked, trying to push out of his arms.

"Misao, I can't make you trust me. It will come in time. Let me help you."

"I… I'll do that." She smiled and allowed him to hug her.

"Your new name is Sou," she told him before running off towards the river.

"Okay," he agreed, following her. "What are you doing?"

"Hmm? Oh, I'm going to wash the other clothes I brought with me so I have something clean to wear tomorrow," she told him.

He smiled. Things were going to get better. All he could do was hope that atonement would come in the form of this energetic girl. He really hoped she was just that.

TBC