Hay I'm srry that it took so long to update this…I really am. Just with doing college classes and high school at the same time is VERY tiring and with the homework and chores and everything else I'm surprised that I even have ANY time to write the chapters and edit them and then typing them! . If you have any ideas or hints feel free to comment on it or the story. .
Thanks
Blue- thank you so much for everything and I hope you continue to enjoy!
Mega shortness- do I know u? You talk like I was ur best friend but I REALLY don't remember you. How do u know Jesse?
Chapter 3"Sano…there's something I need to tell you," said Taeya seriously as she continued to stare at Sanosuke.
"What is it? It must be pretty damn serious for you to be acting like this," said Sano as he walked closer to her so that he was merely two steps away from her. "Taeya, you can tell me anything…I won't get mad."
Taeya took a deep breath as she tried to keep her emotions under control. "Hontou desu ka? Y-you wouldn't hate me? Even if I did something horrible in the past?"
"Everyone has done something in the past that they're not proud of, trust me. Taeya…tell me what's on your mind," said Sano softly as put a hand on her shoulder.
"Sanosuke…remember I told you that I fought with Kenshin during the Revolution and that I was an Imperialist?"
"Yeah, you told me that when we first met…why?"
"Well…I-I…" tears sprang into her eyes as she tried to tell Sanosuke what had happened that night. Without thinking, Sanosuke slowly and carefully took Taeya in his strong arms and embraced her close to him, silently telling her everything was okay.
Not leaving his comforting embrace, Taeya took a deep breath and slowly released it as she continued to speak. "As one of my missions…I was sent to…Shimosuwa to…to help Captain Shindoh in the murder of…the- the Sekihotai," she said solemnly as she fought to keep the tears from running down her cheeks like a small river. Taeya was afraid to look up at Sano for fear that he would be angered at her so she kept hr head bowed and waited for him to say something to her. She was a little surprised that he already pushed her away from his embrace and began shouting curses and insults at her. After a long while, Taeya slowly lifted her head to look up and Sano and saw that Sanosuke wasn't furious with her. Instead, his face held a mixture of understanding, pain, and sorrow.
When Taeya sobbed, Sano held her tighter and rested his head on hers. They stood in silence for a few more minutes before Sanosuke whispered into her soft, ebony hair. "You didn't tell me earlier…'cause you were unsure of my reaction?" he said softly.
He felt Taeya nod her head as she whispered. "I didn't know that you were a…member of the Sekihotai. Kenshin told me after I…uh…told him something."
"Told him something? asked Sano questionably as he bent his head a little to look into her bright emerald green eyes.
Taeya smiled slightly as she remembered what she had told Kenshin when they were at the market but brushed it off. "Nothing important tori-atama." After a long pause she continued to speak, "Sano…why aren't you mad at me?"
"Why am I not mad at you…wanna know why? 'Cause I know that you didn't have a choice…they were your orders and you had to obey them. I don't want something done in the past to disrupt my future any more than it already has. Taeya…I've spent a long time trying to hold on to the past before I finally realized that I had to move on. It's not your fault, and I don't want it to stand between the two of us. Kenshin pulled me out of the hole I was in when we first fought…and I don't want to go back into that hole."
"S-Sano…I-"
"Shhh…it's okay, you don't have to sat anything. I know." Sano stood in silently once more as he held Taeya in his arms. He reluctantly let go of her when she pulled away slowly and smiled up at him.
"Hey…why don't we get inside? It's getting cold and I don't have a jacket."
"He…yeah, c'mon," Sano walked with his arm around Taeya's shoulders and entered the room. Taeya felt a slight guilt creep up on her as she saw lunch already set out.
"Gomen Kenshin, I was suppose to cook our lunch, huh?"
"Don't you worry about it Taeya-dono. You can make it tomorrow, ne?" said Kenshin with a smile as he sat down next to Kaoru.
"Arigatou Himura," she said with a small smile on her face as she and Sanosuke sat down beside each other.
"So Taeya-san…what happened outside?" asked Kaoru as she stared from Sano to Taeya and back again.
"Oh nothing. It was just…eeto...a small…misunderstanding?" said Taeya as she nervously looked at her food but didn't touch it.
"Daga…Kenshin said that you and Sanosuke had something to work out."
"Dewa…dewa…we just…eeto…"
"Yare, yare…leave the poor girl alone jou-chan. She doesn't want to talk about it…just drop it," said Sano as he continued to chew done the food in his plate.
"Demo-"
"Maa, maa Kaoru-dono, why don't you just ask her about it later? I'm sure she wants to tell you what happened but just not at this moment…ne?" interrupted Kenshin quickly.
"Oh all right," pouted Kaoru as she continued to eat her meal.
"Busu never wants to wait," said Yahiko as he gobbled down the rest of his food.
The rest of the night was in silence, as they finished eating, Taeya picked up the dishes and began to wash them. After Taeya was finished she joined Kaoru in her room and began to tell what had happened outside between her and Sanosuke.
"He hugged you? Just like that?" asked Kaoru, sounding a little surprised.
"Hai…he did Kaoru," said Taeya softly as she looked down at the floor with a small blush on her cheeks.
"You let him hug you. Taeya…you-you like Sanosuke, don't you?"
"N-nani? Kaoru I…"
"Y-you do!" shouted Kaoru happily as she stared at her blushing friend.
"I-I do but…but I won't tell him until I'm sure that he likes me as well. If Sano finds out how I feel 'bout him I'll know who told him," Taeya said coldly.
"Yeah…alright…I-I get the message," said Kaoru as she looked out the door.
"I'm a little tired, you don't you mind if I go to sleep a little early today…do you?"
"No not at all. There isn't much to do around here."
"You know what? Never mind…I just got an idea," said Taeya as she stood and walked out of Kaoru's room.
"Sano! Sano, where are you?"
"Right behind you kirei."
Taeya turned around and saw Sano, "Hey, do you want to spar with me?"
"Hmm…alright, you're on. Don't cry when I beat you though," he said as he lead her outside and got into his fighting stance.
Taeya jumped back and got into her fighting stance as she said, "Don't hold back on me rooster head 'cause I wont!"
The two ran at each other at the same time, Sano threw a punch but Taeya ducked and lifted her arm to upper cut Sano but he caught her fist with his other hand. "You're holding back on me," he said as he smirked.
"I am," said Taeya as she freed herself from his grasp and flipped into the air.
"Well don't."
"Fine."
Taeya stood ready with her legs spread and her fists out in front of her. She smirked, 'this will be fun.' She charged at Sano and he turned on his heel, his foot flying through the air to kick Taeya. She quickly ducked as his right foot flew at her and she shot back up to punch him in the gut. Sano jumped back and barely avoided her attack.
Sano launched a series of punches and kicks as Taeya dodged them. Unexpectedly, Taeya jumped into one of Sano's kicks and his foot barely missed the top of her head. Sano twisted his side and brought his foot down on her, she couldn't jump out of the way so she brought both her arms up to block his attack. Taeya's eyes widened as a sharp pain ripped through her arm, blood slowly flowed to the floor. Sano looked down at her and then bent down to see a small kunai on the floor next to her.
"A…kunai?" he said slowly as he picked it up and examined it. "Are you okay kirei?" he asked as he looked down at her injured arm.
Taeya looked out into the distance as she answered Sano, "Yeah, dajibou. The kunai…it came from that direction, ' she said as she pointed to the trees.
She and Sano both stood up and walked outside of the dojo's gate and stood in front of the trees Taeya had pointed at. "There's no one here. Not even a trace or sign that says someone was here tonight," said Sano as he continued to look around.
"No sign…except my injured arm and this kunai," said Taeya as she looked at the blood stained kunai in her hand.
"Oi, why don't we go inside and take care of that wound?" said Sano as he put his arm around her shoulders and led her back inside the dojo. As Taeya walked she looked back into the crowd of trees and almost swore she saw them move around but dismissed it as Sano opened the dojo's gate for her.
Once inside her room, Sanosuke began to clean and bandage her wound. "It's not that deep…it should be healed in no time if you take care of it," he said once he was finished.
"Hai…you're right," she said half heartily as she stared at the kunai on the floor next to him.
"Cheer up kirei, we'll find out who it was in no time. I'll tell Kenshin 'bout it tomorrow."
"Sano…we're going to have dinner. Don't you think they'll be a little suspicious?"
"Ahhhhh…just say that you were being clumsy and fell or something."
"Oh like Kenshin would fall for something as lame as that. Oh well, I have to go make dinner. Don't tell them what happened," she said seriously as she turned to leave.
"Don't worry I wont but…" Sano didn't finish his sentence as he stood up and walked over to Taeya, putting his arms on her shoulders.
"But?" asked Taeya as she looked into his chocolate eyes.
"But…" he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. He slowly pulled away and stared down at her emerald green eyes. "Don't worry I wont let anything happen to you," said Sano as he stroked her hair with his hand softly.
"He he, I don't need protection tori-atama, I can take care of myself. Arigatou though," she said as she turned and left to make dinner.
Taeya sighed slowly as she chopped the vegetables, her hands chopped away at the vegetables but her mind was elsewhere. 'Who could have a motive to attack me? I don't know anybody with a grudge against me…maybe…Himura has someone after him?" she thought as she continued cooking in the kitchen.
After a short while she stepped out of the kitchen and set the table as Kaoru and the others walked in. "Dinner is almost ready, gomen I started a little late," she said as she walked back inside the kitchen only to come back out in a few seconds with the food.
"Mmm…yummy," said Yahiko as he chewed the food down. "I'm glad that someone other than Kenshin can cook."
"Why thank you Yahiko. I'm glad you liked it," said Taeya as she began to eat.
"Taeya-dono…what happened to your arm?" asked Kenshin as he saw a red liquid staining the whit bandage on her arm.
"Yeah," said Kaoru, "Sanosuke wasn't rough on you when the two of you spared, was he?"
"Che…why do I always get the blame?"
"Well…actually it wasn't his fault. You see…I went to jump kick Sano and landed wrong on my feet so I kinda tripped and…hit my arm against…the edge of the fence," she said as she nervously smiled.
"Oro? I didn't think you would be the clumsy type when you spared for fun," said Kenshin as he continued to eat quietly.
"Yeah well…I guess there's a first for everything, ne?"
"Indeed there is Taeya-dono."
"Did you clean the wound already?" asked Kaoru as she looked into Taeya's eyes.
"Yeah, I did. Sanosuke helped me."
"Oh…alright. I just wanted to make sure."
The rest of dinner was eaten in silence and it wasn't until they had all finished and Taeya was washing the dishes that Kenshin came in to talk to her.
"Are you sure that you tripped Taeya-dono?"
"H-Himura……I-It's…oh, I didn't trip," she said as she finished the dishes and turned to face him.
"I thought as much. What happened?"
"Sano and I were sparing and out of nowhere a kunai hit my arm. I tried looking around in the direction that it came from but I didn't find anything. I don't know of anyone who might have a grudge against me either. You don't know of anyone who might want you dead by any chance?"
"Iie, I don't. Who ever the shooter was must be very skilled to not have left a single clue. Hmmm…it's late, why don't you get some rest and we'll talk about it a little more in the morning? Oh and don't worry, I wont tell Kaoru-dono anything."
"Arigato Himura. I knew I could count on you!" she said as she headed back to her room to get some sleep. Taeya found Sano waiting for her inside of her room.
"Sano?" she questioned.
"Kenshin didn't but it, did he?"
"Iie, I told you he wouldn't," she said as she sat down on her futon next to Sano.
"Did you tell him?"
"Yeah, he said he doesn't know of anyone who might want him dead so my guess is that…we're dealing with someone…from the past."
"Dunno, your guess is as good as mine."
Why don't we think about it tomorrow? I feel tired from everything that's happened today."
"Sure kirei, just get some sleep," he said as he got up and walked out of her room, closing the door behind him and leaving her alone.
Taeya laid down on her futon and wondered before she fell into another nightmarish sleep, 'Who would want to kill me?' Her eyes slowly closed and she quickly fell asleep.
"Let's move out," said Taeya softly as she ran out into the open streets, two other imperialists followed her with a prisoner close behind them.
"Hitomi, is the prisoner secure?" she asked as she looked around her.
"Hai, the prisoner is secure," Hitomi said as she kept the prisoner close to her. Hitomi looked at the prisoner and nodded towards him; he nodded back.
"Chotto matte," said Taeya as she froze in her place and her hands instantly went to her swords on both sides of her hips.
In a split second, they were surrounded my numerous masked men. Taeya drew her swords but didn't proceed in attacking her opponents because she felt a sword at her back. She looked back and saw Hitomi holding a sword to her back and the prisoner had a sword to her partner. "Hitomi, you dare betray me?"
"Akirameru Taeya-san, there are too many of us."
"Hanasa…while you have the chance, Hitomi," she said with her voice as cold as ice.
Srry for the long wait! But I am SUPER busy! I will have the next one up in a while but it just depends on what happens. Please don't be mad at me! I'm really trying to update my chapters!