Hi people! It's me!I was talking to some friends about this little story of mine and we came to the conclusion that I am what they call "the Aoshi Nazi" I like to make Aoshi suffer in my stories and really like the stories where he gets smacked, cracked on the head, tripped, bitten, strangled, etc…and especially when he gets plastered, I've found those to be some funny stories. This is my mathematical equation for the day,

Aoshi+ Alcohol+ heavy objects HILARITY!

Anyway to sum-up the story so far…

"The vixen has come for my soul."

Aoshi said, almost whining. He wasn't allowed to be up and moving around for any extended period of time…and had officially gotten bored. Lee smacked him in the head.

"If she was after your soul she wouldn't have saved you, baka."

That was officially her new favorite word, and Aoshi's new nickname for her, Baka-chan. It apparently meant "little idiot" in Japanese. Megumi had fallen asleep a few feet away.

This was about the only time it was ever quiet. If they were both awake, it was like having a cat and a dog trapped in a nuclear war at the vet's office. They were both trying to eradicate each other and neither was in a good mood to begin with. They never stopped arguing until either Lee split them up or until one of them fell asleep. They argued about the stupidest of things too. Like fish…()and why everyone thought Megumi was a deceitful humanoid domesticated vixen…and why everyone knew Aoshi was a psychotic humanoid feral cat…and an icicle. After a while, Lee quit trying to make the two get along, and focused more on teaching Jack an attack.

Needless to say, Aoshi didn't see her much anymore. So he had to entertain himself with drawing designs in the dirt…by the end of the day you would have thought that aliens had gotten confused and drew crop circles in the ground instead of the cornfields. Why did this have to happen to him? Did he ever get a break? No. No matter what, Aoshi Shinomori has to be tortured in some way. Oh the BOREDOM!

"If my life gets any more interesting I might just have to lay down and die"

He sighed and stood up…at least he could do that again. Megumi was immediately on his tail,

"OI! ICICLE! SIT DOWN YOU AREN"T SUPPOSED TO BE UP!"

"…"

"I thought you were asleep for a few blissful seconds...vixen"

"Well I'm not, and I'm not gonna let you die that easy! You gotta suffer for a while first!...ICICLE!"

"Conniving vixen…"

"Stubborn icicle!"

This went on for much longer than two adults should ever go on for.

Lee returned with Jack. She had learned the attack a lot easier than expected and…

"vixen!"

"Icicle!"

"VIXEN!"

"ICICLE!"

she shook her head…they were arguing again. "all right you two, play nice… honestly, it's really sad when I'm the more mature one here out of two adults and a dog…" she looked up and noticed that they both were shooting her their equally famous death glares…somehow, Lee's vocal cords didn't want to work after that. they continued quarreling until it was night and their voices grew hoarse.

"All right, Vixen…you win…for now"

"I'll always win Icicle…cause you suck…"

wow…was that really the best she could come up with? "cause you suck?" yikes.

Lee sat with an expression on her face that was usually trademark of Aoshi, blank, slightly angry, bored. "are you done bickering yet?" she asked in the same tone.

Aoshi flopped down beside her,

"yes…for the time being…"

Jack came and sat next to him. Jack now understood names, the tall one was Aoshi, the pup was Lee, and healer female was Vixen. Jack nuzzled Aoshi for food and got a death glare. She slowly backed away then ran to hide behind Lee.

"Well, I don't think I'll have to be here much longer, you haven't died yet so I'll guess you'll be okay…for the time being…Icicle"

Aoshi drew breath to argue but Lee covered his mouth.

"oh no ya don't not again."

He relaxed and pushed Lee's hand away.

"I'll probably leave tomorrow" Megumi said matter-of-factly

"Why wait that long? Why not liberate me now?" Aoshi mumbled under his breath, Lee promptly hit him upside the head

"OW! Hey! No beating up an invalid!"

"I have to make sure you will survive the night, Invalid Icicle. Keep saying crap like that and you won't survive the hour" Megumi growled.

"Try it." Aoshi growled back.

"CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG!" Lee cried

"NO!" Megumi and Aoshi yelled back.

Later that night, Lee had fallen asleep with Jack on her lap. Only Aoshi and megumi were awake. He refused to argue anymore, he didn't want to wake the child.

"is her story true?" Megumi broke the silence, "about how she met you?"

Aoshi looked at her for a moment then answered,

"yes, not sure how it happened but it did."

It was silent again but something had gnawed at his insides for a while,

"I apologize," he said finally.

"what?" Megumi exclaimed, stunned.

"I apologize for working for Kanryu and making your life a misery." He stared off into space, "I was stupid for working for that scum and making other people suffer. I should have found better work but I failed" He looked at her, "please know that it wasn't like I didn't care that he was torturing you like that it's just that I didn't have a choice."

Megumi was surprised, his eyes were a soft green, not the fabled icy blue that struck fear into the most battle-hardened men. They were…kind. She smiled at him, "I understand…" she snapped herself out of it, "but YOU'RE STILL A PETOPHILE ICILE!" he didn't say anything, just laid back on the tree and closed his eyes. She realized that he and Kenshin were not so different. Sure, kenshin smiled a whole lot more and said "oro" but they both had that same, quiet, thoughtful demeanor. Just…Aoshi was a lot scarier. He looked almost amused,

"hmmm. If we had met on different terms we might've even been friends…"

NOW MEGUMI SAW IT! She grabbed a nearby rock and whipped it at his head as hard as she could. He ducked in time but just barely.

He looked up at where his right eye had been and saw a huge crater in the tree's bark. He wouldn't have been surprised to see the smoldering rock embedded in the wood. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

Megumi folded her arms,

"GEEZ! I SAVE YOU AND YOU THINK THAT MEANS I'M REMOTELY ATTRACTED TO YOU? WAKE UP!"

"WHA?" Aoshi got angry, "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! CAN'T I JUST APOLOGIZE FOR BEING A JACKASS! BESIDES, THAT WOULD BE BEASTIALITY, VIXEN!"

Lee sleepily moved. Aoshi looked down at her, hoping he hadn't woken her up. (though she could sleep like a bear in hibernation) she opened her eyes but they didn't focus. She smacked him in the head and mumbled a sleepy, "be nice…saved yer ass…ice cube."

Gods, not her too.

"I don't need this, I'm leaving in the morning."

Megumi rolled to the other side of the tree and laid down.

Aoshi sighed and slouched down against the tree he had been leaning on. Lee grabbed his arm and fell asleep on his shoulder. Something like a smile flickered on his face. He absent-mindedly stroked her head as he stared into space. He looked up at the moon, it was blood red as always in his world. But for the first time in years, he saw stars in the sky.

Lee woke up the next morning on Aoshi's shoulder. She had grabbed it during the night. She didn't really even know why. It was probably the nightmare she'd had. He'd disappeared. Just totally gone and she was left alone. It was one of those dreams that you hate. So simple yet so terrifying at the same time. Before she'd wanted to kick him in the shins and get away from him any way she could. But now, somehow, she wanted him to stay with her. God, only a week and a half with this guy and she was already sleeping on him like they were old pals. But, she really, kinda liked it. He was cold whenever she touched him at first. But eventually he'd get gradually warmer.

She looked at his face. He was still asleep. She nuzzled her face into his shoulder and fell asleep again.

"Well, Lee, I guess this is goodbye." Megumi said smiling at Lee. They had become fairly good friends in that week (Aoshi still said she was a traitor for being so.) and found that they would miss each other. She leaned in closer and whispered in Lee's ear,

"And if he tries anything stupid, come find me, I'll kill him for you…"

Megumi slipped her a piece of paper with writing on it. Lee raised an eyebrow, what did she mean "stupid?" Aoshi was always stupid if you asked her.

Aoshi stood with his arms crossed and rolled his eyes.

"Well Icicle, don't get killed while I'm not around to see it and laugh." Megumi said to him.

"Oh don't you worry about me, Vixen. You should really worry about the dogs that are hunting you right now." Okay, it was a bad comeback but, hell, it was too early for brain functions.

They began walking their separate ways but Megumi put a hand on Aoshi's shoulder as she passed,

"I think you might've been right, about us being friends under different circumstances… Aoshi."

She lingered for a moment then continued on her way.

"Megumi!" he called after her, she stopped.

"Thank you." He said

She nodded then continued on as did Aoshi, with Lee and Jack at his side.

It took him a while to realize what was wrong with this picture.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Why is that beast still following us?" He said pointing to Jack.

"You never did show me that attack!"

Lee grinned widely, "oh yeah, that's right isn't it? Well Jack, I say we PROVE HIM WRONG!" she yelled the last part and then crouched down.

The mutt came running from behind her then jumped off her back to get extra air. Aoshi didn't have time to draw his swords or barely even blink before the dog hit him in the chest, knocking him to the ground and put her jaws around his throat. He lay there for a moment, stunned that Lee had taught the dog such a complicated attack "Okay…" he whispered, the wind knocked out of him, "we keep the dog."

Woot! Chapter 5 ish done. I got a question from my friends, how long are you going to make them travel together for? Well people, I can at least say, that they do meet Shishio. (His other royal scariness.)And I have already begun plans on a sequel, trust me, Lee will be around for a long time…(Aoshi: aw crap.)

Lol

L8R SK8R!