R-05280

By: Kelli St. Pierre……..sadly I do not own Rurouni Kenshin………..

Chapter 10: "Farewell"

A soft breeze flew by through the white window as a figure was on a bed writing in what looked to be a diary. Misao wrote fast with sloppy as usual, thinking too many thoughts for her to write down in time. She wrote with an ordinary pencil as the door opened from behind her. Misao whipped her head around to Aoshi in her doorway in his usual army suit.

"Eek!" Misao squeaked, like her weasel self, as she hid her diary under the bed, "Aoshi, what are you doing here?"

Aoshi didn't say anything but instead walked two steps towards her, still with a grim face on. Misao sat up on her bed as she looked at him straight in his eyes, only to find emptiness.

"Aoshi….are you alright?" Misao asked uncertainly. He really was giving her the creeps the way he just stares at her.

"Um….why don't we go downstairs", Misao asked nervously, "Since Jiya doesn't like boys in my room."

Silence

"Aoshi can you ju-"

"Are you ready?" Aoshi suddenly said sternly.

"What?" Misao asked confused.

"Are you ready?" Aoshi repeated again.

"Ready? Ready for what?" Misao asked, even more confused as to why Aoshi is acting so strange. And to why he suddenly invited himself into her room.

"Are you ready for what's coming?"

"W…w…wait, what's coming for what I have to be ready for?"

"You have to be ready"

"God damn it, I'm sick of hearing that already" Misao said a little louder..

"You must be ready or you'll fail," Aoshi said sternly as he took a step forward towards Misao so he was only an inch or two away from her sitting position.

"That's just it though. What is it that I have to be ready for?" Misao asked loudly.

"For the beginning of the end"

Aoshi raised his hand on her shoulder as Misao stood up off the bed and in front of Aoshi. He took the hand on her shoulder and moved it towards her cheek as he said, "Are you ready?"

Right when his hand touched her cheek, white filled the room as Aoshi disappeared…..

"Misao"

'Ugh….what the hell happened' Misao thought to herself even though she was still half asleep. Aoshi was above her trying to wake her.

"Misao"

"Ugh….alright…I'm ready what more do you want" Misao said softly.

"What? Misao, it's time to wake up"

"I already said I'm ready!" Misao said furiously as she flashed her eyes open and sat up at lighting bolt speed. She saw that Aoshi was there beside her, along with Kenshin and Kaoru awake.

"Oh, oops….he..he…sorry," Misao said weakly, as her cheeks turned into tomatoes.

"That's fine, but we have to get up. There waking people up now," Aoshi said quietly, then the smallest of a smirk replaced his face, "I just thought you'd like me waking you up then them."

"Ugh, that's all I need. Getting my face thrown in dirt for the hundredth billionth time" Misao said while yawning and rubbing her eyes. Misao stood, with Aoshi's help as he pulled her up, and Kenshin and Kaoru did as well. Misao noticed it was really early since the sun wasn't even up. But she could see that soldiers were waking everybody up, even threw the darkness of the night.

"It looks like there all going their," Kenshin pointed out towards a big army tank thingy that Misao wasn't able to make out that well. But whatever it was, it had lights shining on the sides, which made it look like a huge star.

"Well, looks like that's where were going," Kaoru said as they all started walking towards it, while walking over some people who haven't woken up yet. But that problem was solved when whistles were heard throughout the area.

"Ah, god, do those things have to be so loud!" Misao asked loudly, while putting her hands to her ears.

"Well if they want to wake everybody up they do," Aoshi replied back.

"So why do you think everyone's going to this tank thingy anyway?" Kaoru asked while biting her fingernail.

"Probably for ammo," Aoshi replied. It was true that all of their guns and weapons were all gone from the disaster the previous night.

Of course there was a huge crowd they were in the middle of so it wasn't that comfortable. The people that are on the tank, which are about four, started handing people guns that looked like rifles only bigger.

'Cool', Misao thought, 'With these babies, we can blow these Iraq's asses out of here.'

"Hey look over there" Aoshi said to Misao, who tried to look but failed of course with her being so small and everybody around.

"Well, if you haven't noticed, I'm kind of squished here" Misao said as she only had aoshi's hand, which is saving her from being trampled to death, "Why, what's so important over there?"

"There are more of these tanks. I'd say about two or three more" Aoshi replied smoothly.

"You mean there are more of theses things" Misao asked.

"Of course, you don't think one tank is going to supply guns for hundreds of soldiers do you?"

"Y…yea, of course" Misao said as if she knew what he was talking about, when in reality she didn't.

They were getting close to the tank when Misao finally noticed how big it was. Hell it was Gigantic! It must have been at least over twice the size of Aoshi's height. Misao felt like an insect to this think. But her thoughts were disturbed when someone from behind stepped on the back of her boot.

"Ouch!" Misao hissed, "Watch the hell you're going will ya!"

"Fuck you, you bitch!" the man, who must have been in his forty's due to his face and beard, yelled back at her.

"Who are you calling a bitch!" Misao yelled and was about to pulverize the guy when an arm blocked her. Aoshi pulled her against him as he looked back at the guy and gave him a glare of death. The man quickly shut his mouth and looks down.

"Hey, I could of handled that guy" Misao pouted.

"I know," Aoshi replied, "But right now, starting a fight in a big crowd is not wise."

They finally were under this tank as Aoshi got handed two guns. He took one and gave the other to Misao who nearly dropped it.

'God! These things are heavy!' Misao thought. Aoshi pulled her to the left quickly and forcefully through the crowd. When they finally managed to free themselves, they found Kenshin and Kaoru already out.

"Well that was painful," Kaoru whined as she rubbed her arm, "Some big jerk elbowed me and now I'm going to get a big black and bruise."

"Well, you do bruise easily Kaoru" Kenshin said, as he showed no indication that he was hurt at all.

"Shut up Kenshin!"

"Yes maim!"

"Yea well some big jerk stepped on my boot" Misao said as she put her gun down, "So what do we do now?"

"I guess we wait until further instructions, " Kenshin replied.

An hour later……

The group is sitting on the sand as they all have formed a group circle. Luckily Kaoru had her cards in one of her army pockets and so they all started playing goldfish.

"Ha, looks like I win again," Kaoru said while smiling.

"That's not fair, you must be cheating," Misao whined as Kaoru came in first, Misao in second, Kenshin in third, and Aoshi in last.

"Oh don't be a sore loser like Sano," Kaoru while shuffling the cards again.

"Well, this one did good for this one's first try," Kenshin replied weakly.

"This is your first time playing gold fish!" Misao said while her eyeballs came out of their sockets.

"Yea, this one never played a whole lot of games during this one's young years," Kenshin replied while scratching his head.

"Well what about you Aoshi?" Kaoru asked, "By the looks of the standings, you must not be a games person either?"

"I do enjoy some games," Aoshi responded sternly as he was slightly angry that he not only lost, but came in last. And Aoshi Shinomori never loses, "I enjoy chess and checkers."

"Oh," Kaoru said uncertainly, "How……exciting."

Suddenly whistles were heard throughout the desert as soldiers started pointing and shouting…..

"Alright! Come this way!"

"Let's go! It's time to start walking!"

Kaoru put all the cards in her pocket as they all stood up. Misao and the others didn't start walking until they were the last ones behind everyone. That way they didn't risk getting separated or being crushed by everyone.

The big tank things were still there and didn't seem to move anytime soon as they walked by them and towards the mountains. They were walking away from where Misao's home was for approximately three weeks. Away from the camp where she hung out with her friends Kaoru and Sano. And far off, she could see the building where Sano was, or maybe still there. Saitou never told her when he was to move Sano to that hospital he told her about.

Thud!

"Oof!" Misao squeaked as she crashed into Aoshi's back that stopped. In fact, everybody stopped and Misao was really curios and really anger since her nose hurt like hell.

She couldn't see what stopped everyone, but she could definitely hear what stopped them and definitely knew what did.

"Attention everyone"

Captain Saitou

"I would like to say that delivering the ammo took longer than I wanted it to," Saitou replied coolly, Misao could just smell the smoke from back here, "But the good news is that we'll still get our surprise attack, we'll just have to walk faster that's all."

Misao heard footsteps up ahead but the people in front of her weren't able to move yet. That gave Misao time to wander in her thoughts.

'Well, it looks like this is really it', Misao thought, 'Looks like this is the last stand, hopefully after this I can go home. I miss everyone so much', Misao then sighed, 'But I'll miss these guys so much to', Misao looked at them all one by one.

'I'll miss everyone of them so much. I'll miss Kaoru sine she was my first and best friend here. We were kind of like sisters. I'll miss Kenshin cause of his, oro's, and whatever the hell they mean. I'll miss Sano cause of his sore losing personality as goldfish', Misao thought and she smiled until she looked up at Aoshi's back.

'But I'll miss you most of all. I've only known you for three weeks and yet I feel like we belong together. It could be a little crush as they all say, but it feels stronger. I'm not even sure if I'll even be able to say goodbye to you', Misao had a tear down her cheek as she quickly wiped it off.

Misao looked back towards the camp as she recalled her memories there and throughout her whole journey being a soldier……

"Excuse me miss, but would you mind telling me what your doing here?" the man said. Misao just fully up and pointed to her clothes dully. The man raised an eyebrow and said slowly…..

"You're kidding, right?"

'There you go dummy, didn't take a genius to figure that one out', Misao thought.

"Nope sir, I am what you see," Misao said, she had some sort of feeling she wasn't going to like this guy, some sort of premonition.

Though the man just looked at her, or studied her in Misao's opinion, as her calmly took out a cigarette and lit it. He blew a smoke bomb right in her face and walked away, but not before he said…..

"Weasel…"

"Sanosuke! Don't be so rude, can't you see we have a visitor here!" the girl yelled as the boy named Sanosuke was yelping and groaning from the girl pinching his ear.

"Ouch! Ouch! Hey knock it off Missy!" Sanosuke yelled. From the other side of the tent, the men who were gambling stopped and looked at us. The three of us sweat dropped as we whispered our apologies. The girl let go of Sanosuke's ear as she said to Misao…..

"I'm sorry about him, he's just an idiot roster head. But my names Karou Kamiya, and he's Sanosuke Sagara."

"Eek", Misao was too focused on his suit that she didn't realize a pair of ice blue eyes was on her. Misao blushed a little while biting her lip, which was a habit of hers ever since she was little.

"Oh, um, sorry bout that"

"No need, the name's Aoshi Shinomori", Aoshi replied calmly as he extended his hand. Misao's eyes bulged out and shot her hand out while saying happily….

"Of course, they are known for mainly there mine bombs and some other sneaky shit"

Misao then cringed a little at hearing that. She never knew that these people called Iraqis were some bomb like people. She didn't even know there were hidden bombs here or around here. What happens if she stepped on one?

'Alright Misao, lets not go there…'

"Oh is that right, well, that's not cool", Misao replied back.

"Yea, poor fellow, he looked so young to and probably didn't even know", the man replied with a little sorrow in his voice.

"Really", Misao asked curious.

"Yea, I couldn't get much of his looks, all I saw was that he had brown hair and kind of a tall form, if you ask me, he kind of looked like a rooster head"

"Oh well tha-" Misao stopped short as her brain processed what he said.

'Wait a minute; I know a rooster head……SANO!'

"Hey Kaoru, who is this you brought along?" Misao asked curiously. Kaoru just giggled as she replied…..

"This is Kenshin, I met down where they made me do push up's and all other shit" Kaoru replied happily.

"Sheesh Kaoru, you make it sound like you found a dog"

"Oro!"

"Don't Misao, I don't need your pity….all I need is…" Aoshi leaned forward until his face was centimeters away from hers as he whispered…

"You"

Lips claimed over Misao as she wrapped her hands around his neck, while Aoshi's hands were at her waist. The kiss was gentle as aoshi moved his hands to her face to cup her cheeks. The kiss was over as fast as it started as they both were regaining their breaths.

'Looks like this is farewell', Misao thought. She turned her head forward and closed her eyes as she walked on.

Not once did she look back.

Hey, long time no see, I know. And that's why I'm completely sorry for the long wait, it's just that my parents don't want us on the computer that much this summer and want us outside. I've only updated stories that wouldn't take long, but these chapters to type up takes me like three hours. But yeah, I'm sorry and hope that I'm forgiven and not killed by you guys, lol. I was going to make it longer but I thought ending it here was good. So hopefully if your not mad that you'll review and if you are, I don't blame you. Until next time, c ya's…..