A/N: Well...I was reading through the chapter again after constantly laughing about it during the day whenever I thought about it, and I decided that the end needed a little more to it, just to make sure that I got a few things across. That, and I decided that it needed a sappy scene at the end. AKA me being depressed and making sappy stuff that only makes me more depressed.I figured it'd be a bit short to put as a new chapter, plus I changed the last part a little bit too. And I know that it gets a bit out of character at places, but...-shrugs- Everyone's got an out of character mode. And also, Soujiro does take truths seriously ya know, though perhaps I overdid it a bit. -smiles-

It was a wonderful day to serve tea, Misao thought as she walked to the kitchen of the Aoiya, stretching and yawning as she went. It was always her favorite part of the day, doing something for her Aoshi-sama, even if he only every spoke one word to her: a small, "thanks."That one word of appreciation was all she needed. He'd come to his senses eventually. And then he'd realize how perfect he and Misao were and they would live happily together. Just Misao and her Aoshi-sama.

"You're thinking about Shinomori-san again, aren't you?" a voice behind her laughed, bringing her from her thoughts to face a smiling ex-tenken who was leaning against the kitchen doorway. She could feel the heat rising in her face from being caught daydreaming, but she masked her embarrassment with anger, hoping that he wouldn't notice.

"Naa, Soujiro," she said in irritation as she hastily snatched the teapot she had been reaching for before her thoughts had taken over, "what do you always have to sneak up on me for?"

"I wasn't," he said in amusement as he watched her hurry around the kitchen to prepare Aoshi's tea. "I've been trying to get your attention for a while now."

"Oh..." Her mask faltered slightly, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to argue her way out of this one. So she busied herself withthe herbs and ignored his presence.

Usually, she didn't mind being caught daydreaming about Aoshi, but whenever Soujiro caught her, it seemed like he was teasing her. Maybe it was just the way he always smiled when he mentioned something about it. He'd found the whole matter amusing for a while, but then he started asking her questions about it. His smile changed eventually, but a smile was a smile and she took it for teasing. And if there was one thing that Makimachi Misao could not stand, it was being teased.

When she looked back at him she was pleased to see that he wasn't smiling anymore, which spared her the work of getting rid of it for him, but instead he was staring down at the ground, obviously thinking hard about something. Any other time of the day, she would have immediately poked and prodded for him to spill his thoughts, but she was already running short on time thanks to getting lost in her own thoughts, so she just walked past him and continued working on the tea. She was almost finished when her friend finally spoke up.

"You're in love with Shinomori-san, right?"

She immediately prepared herself to throw the nearest object, a beautifully crafted teacup, at his face at the first sign of a smile on his face, and spun around to meet his gaze. Only he wasn't smiling; instead there was a genuine look of curiosity etched into his features, which was a good thing given that Omasu would have killed her for destroying the precious cup.

"Yeah," she said casually with a shrug, hoping to appear as though she'd never had any intention of smashing his face in with a porcelain teacup.

"Why?"

Misao blinked. "Wha...?"

"How do you know you're in love with him?"

She carefully inspected his face for any hint of teasing and found none. He'd always been one to ask odd questions, but why would he ask about something like this? Then it hit her and an evil grin appeared on her face. "Oh, Sou-chan!" she exclaimed in an overly cheery voice, not failing to notice a large sweatdrop rolling down the side of his head at the realization of his mistake. Oh sweet revenge! She would happily pay him back far all his teasing...with interest too! She ran up to him, still grinning madly, and pinned him against the wall so that he couldn't get away. "You've found someone, haven't you?"

"No, no, Misao-chan," he denied as he attempted to free his arms from her grasp, "it's nothing like that! I was just...curious." But Misao knew better, if only from the growing color in the boy's face and how quickly he'd begun denying it. Deciding to be merciful this once she let him go, perfectly satisfied from the discomfort she had caused him for the moment. She gave him one last smirk before turning back to the tea.

"Now what was that question again?" she asked happily as she worked.

He hesitated a second before asking again, "How...how do you know you're in love with Shinomori-san?" he repeated uncertainly.

"Ah," she said dreamily, taking up the tray and facing him again, "Aoshi-sama was the only one there for me for years. He always took care of me and taught me a lot of things. I want to make him happy!" She gave a small shrug. "I guess that's how I know. Hey, are you okay?"

She expertly balanced the tray on one arm while she waved her other hand in front of the boy's now slightly sickly looking face. He blinked and stared blankly down at her before smiling at her. "Thanks for answering my question, Misao-chan, but you should go to Shinomori-san before the tea gets cold." And with that, he desappeared out the front door of the Aoiya.

"Mou, Soujiro," she said with an exasperated sigh. "You can act so weird sometimes." She shook her head and shrugged slightly at her friend's odd behavior and set off towards the temple with a contented smile on her face, completely oblivious to the damage her answers had done to the poor, now completely shocked and confused boy.

After having his question answered by Misao, he had to go and think on his own. Whatever he had expected to find out, it definitely wasn't that. He had only been wondering about his feelings for the girl since he noticed how much her love of Shinomori actually bothered him. But her answer had been much more than he expected. In fact, it completely changed around everything. And no matter how many different ways Soujiro tried to think of it, the answer always ended up the same. And it wasn't what he felt was a particularly good answer. He went through her answers in his mind again.

'He was the only one there for me for years.' Check.

Soujiro cringed slightly as he continued his way down to the river. So far it was looking bad again.

'I want to make him happy!' Well, yeah, Soujiro'd wanted that too, he supposed.

He neared the river and headed to a nearby tree he and Misao had first met and often still did.

'He took care of me and taught me a lot of things.' Check.

He sighed and collapsed in front of the tree, leaning back against it as he stared miserably out at the river. The same answer, yet again. If what Misao had said was true and that's really what love was, it meant only one thing.

He had been in love with Shishio-san.

Soujiro cringed at the thought. And if that was true, that meant...

He slammed his head backwards into the trunk of the tree to stop from finishing the thought. So this was his fate was it? To be everything that people hated? First a bastard, then a murderer, and now...now he was gay too? What next? Would he become a cross dresser like Kamatari to gain the affections of other guys? Soujiro just barely managed to hold in a scream and shuddered at the thought.

Life really did hate him after all. Shishio should have slain him when he had the chance...ugh...

"I'd thought you'd be here!" he heard a voice yell out to him. He looked up to see Misao stop in front of him. "Are you okay?" she asked as she knelt in front of him and checked his head for a fever. "You still look sick." Then with a wicked grin, "So did you find out something with that answer I gave you this morning?" He laughed a laugh that was as weak as his smile and she plopped down on the ground beside him. "So who is it?" she asked eagerly, obviously too curious for his own good.

"It's actually rather embarrassing," he murmmered as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"That's okay," she said brightly, prodding him for an answer, "you can tell me anything. That's what friends are for."

He looked at her uncertainly and she smiled back at him. He looked away from her and let out another weak laugh before finally whispering the name. "Shishio-san." He heard her shocked gasp and continued looking away from her.

"Wh-What? Then you...are you..." she couldn't seem to finish her sentence. "Why didn't you...you could have told me before..."

At this he jerked his gaze over to meet hers. "I didn't know until today!" he exclaimed, gesturing wildly with his arms. "I'm just going by what you told me earlier! The taking care of and the making happy, and he saved me from my family and was the only one around for years. Just like you said--" But before he could finish with his wild explanations, he heard her let out a snort of laughter. He looked over at her, completely mortified. "It-it's not funny," he said in disbelief and Misao continued to laugh at him.

"Sou," she managed as she stood to her feet. "You take things too literally sometimes! There're different kinds of love. You probably just look up...to...him." Her laughter stopped and her arms fell to her side, blinking and looking as though she had just realized something very important.

"Misao-chan?" Soujiro stood up in front of her, slightly worried.

"Ya know," she said as she turned her head to face his own, "I've just finally realized what everyone's been trying to tell me. Thanks!" And with that she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Soujiro could only stare, shocked, as he felt his face reddening. It had been quick, but...that definitely wasn't what he expected. "Now," she started and turned away from him as a small blush found it's way to her face, "race ya back to the Aoiya, I've got news to tell everyone!"

He watched her in surprise for a moment as she dashed off to the city. He shook his head with a slight smile before following. Did she really think that he never caught those times she tried to cover up doing something potentially embarrassing. But at least he was now sure that he had been right about how he was feeling the first time around. That, and he knew to never ever ask Misao for help in defining emotions again.

It was odd how happy and relieved the others seemed when she told them of her discovery of no longer being in love with Aoshi, Misao thought later that night as she and Soujiro were busy cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. And she hadn't failed to notice the smirks the pair had been given after the news either. She'd tried to escape from them by grabbing Soujiro's hand and running off to her room, but now that she thought about it, if those smirks meant what she thought they meant, that hadn't been one of her her more brilliant moves. Come to think of it, that was probably the reason they were stuck with this job by themselves in the first place. She found herself frowning at her stupidity as she continued to scrub at the dishes in the sink in front of her.

"Are you okay, Misao-chan?"

Misao looked beside her where Soujiro was drying off the dishes and smiled. "Yeah, just thinking."

He smiled calmly back down at her and went to put away tea set she had served Aoshi with that morning. She blinked and stared at him for a moment as he walked away, unable to help but notice that his smile had changed again. It was different than when he had been smiling at her earlier that morning, and she had noticed the more peaceful mood he had been in since they returned to the Aoiya with the news.

Misao could feel her face heat up slightly as she remembered her reaction to finally understanding what the others had tried to tell her for years. She really didn't know why she'd done it. She was just so happy to finally know what she was actually feeling. That still didn't answer the whole kiss thing, the hug was no big deal, but...to think that she just went and kissed him like that without a thought, almost as though it were a normal occurrence...sure, they had become close over the months since he first appeared, but that whole time she had been in 'love' with Aoshi. That, and they were just friends. Just friends...

They did just think of each other as friends, right?

She watched him out of the corner of her eye for a moment, before turning back to her task. Neither of them had said anything about it and had gone about their business as usual. Surely he hadn't thought anything of it either, after all...She frowned slightly as she remembered something.

"Soujiro," she started to ask for the third time that day, prepared to get the real answer at any cost, "there must have been a reason you asked me that question this morning, ne?" She paused to look over at him, pleased to see him stiffen slightly before setting the teapot into it's proper cabinet. "And, except for that one mistake," she added teasingly, seeing him wince slightly, "I still haven't gotten an answer."

He turned around to face her, a pleasant smile on his face that he reserved for uncomfortable occasions he didn't want others to know what he was feeling. Out of all of his smiles, it had to be the one that annoyed Misao the most. "I already told you, Misao-chan, I was just curious."

"Why."

Soujiro opened his eyes and blinked, the smile fading slightly. "Huh?"

She couldn't help but to smirk at the familiarity of the scene. "Why were you curious? There's got to be a reason for it."

The boy just continued to smile that annoying smile before putting away the rest of the dried dishes.

Misao scowled, barely restraining herself from taking a swing at the back of his head with the soapy pan in her hands. If there was one more thing Makimachi Misao could not stand, it was being ignored. "Hey! Don't ignore me!"

No answer.

She also did not like not being taken seriously. So she threatened him with the only thing she was absolutely positive he'd respond to. "Fine, fine, you don't have to tell me," she said with a defeated sight, swearing to hear him sigh in relief. Then in a brighter tone, "So I'll just have to tell everyone in town how quickly your sexual preference changes!"

There was the clattering of metal on the floor and Misao looked over to see him staring at her, humiliation present on his face, the pan forgotten on the floor.

"You—you wouldn't!" he reassured himself weakly. "It was just a misunderstanding!"

Misao's bright smile took an evil turn, and his face fell further. "Or would I?"

A defeated sigh escaped from Soujiro, and she felt her gaze soften. She just couldn't keep glaring at him when he looked so defenseless like that for some reason. It was actually rather adorable.

At that thought, she frowned for a second before picking her glare back up. But upon seeing his face again it was replace by confusion.

"You're not going to like the answer," he said, a sad smile adorning his features as he put away the pan and moved closer to her.

As he neared her, Misao could feel her breath catch in her throat as well as her pulse speeding up. Funny how odd she was acting around Soujiro today.She could feel his breath as he leaned down and she scrubbed the pan more furiously, trying to get rid of the stains that had long since been cleaned away.

"I was trying to find out why I didn't like hearing you talk about Shinomori-san," Soujiro confessed softly into her ear, effectively causing Misao to dunk the pan back into the water a little too fast and splash water everywhere. She stared, shocked, at the soapy water. Did he just tell her what she thought he'd told her? But before she'd had much time to think about it, he had placed his hand under her chin and was gently tilting her face up to meet his. She stared wide-eyed at him for a moment before feeling his lips on hers for the second time that day. Only this time she was mostly aware of what was happening. Only 'mostly' because she was still too shocked at what was happening.

Soujiro pulled away after a second or so, and smiled apologetically at her before taking the pan from her hand and drying it, leaving Misao feeling lighter than air. She watched him, thinking about what had just happened and where this feeling had come from. Their chore completed, he walked passed her to leave the kitchen, but she grabbed his sleeve before he could get far.

"Mou, Soujiro," she said in an exasperated tone as he faced her, having finally decided on the answer to her question. "What do you always have to sneak up on me for? I thought we'd already gone through this once today," she said with a wink.

He blinked in surprise. Then he smiled as he realized what she was getting at. "Maa, maa, Misao, I'm sorry about that," he said in mock apology as he looked down and waved his hands in front of him defensively. "I guess I just forgot."

"You always have to forget," she said happily, noticing how he had addressed her. Grabbing hold of the collar of his white shirt she pulled him down into another kiss. Third time's a charm.

Or, rather it would have been, had every other occupant in the Aoiya not suddenly popped into the kitchen shouting that they knew it. Apparently they had been watching the couple the entire time. The two looked over at them. wide-eyed and red-faced, Misao still holding onto the collar of Soujiro's shirt.

Misoa looked up at Soujiro and he just smiled back sheepishly, seeming to know what was about to happen.

If there was another thing that Misao didn't like, it was being spied on and caught in a potentially embarrassing act with a certain brown haired, blue eyed boy. So she tried to hide her embarrassment in the only way she could think of. She pretended to be angry.

She smacked him across the face and let go of his shirt, glaring at him as she yelled out, "You jerk!" before stomping passed the rest of the Oniwabanshu group and grumbling cruel insults about Soujiro. She smirked to herself when she was out of the kitchen. They were almost even.

"What was that about you changing sexual preferences?" she heard someone ask the boy as she neared the stairway. She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter, as she imagined the look on Soujiro's face. Perhaps it wouldn't have been so funny to her if it hadn't been Aoshi who had asked the question. But he had. And it was. She hurried up the stairs to her room, slamming the door closed and leaning against it before allowing her self to laugh out loud.

"I didn't! It was a misunderstanding!" she heard him yell, desperately denying the accusation.

Misao wiped a tear from her face from laughing so hard, wondering whether or not she should come to the boy's rescue. She finally decided that the poor boy had suffered enough humiliation for the dayand after regaining her composure, slid her door open, only to find Soujiro standing there already, completely mortified, as laughter was heard downstairs.

"This is all your fault, you know." He said helplessly as she dragged him inside.

"I'm sorry," she said, giving him a small kiss.

They wereeven now, she decided. She had paid him back for his teasing.

Now try and tell me that that isn't one of the craziest things you've ever read...though I think I finally decided that I liked it.