A/N: Okay it's been.. half a year since I updated.... O_o gomen... but here is chapter three.. a bit longer than chapter two.. basically it details how Misao and Aoshi met. mm This chapter is quite unedited.. so.. if there are problems with grammer.. (tenses lol) or anything of the like.. I hope you'll forgive me. ^_^

Chapter Three

~~~~~ 12 years earlier ~~~~~

"MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!" the frantic crying of a small child could be heart through out the castle. It had been almost a week, since the death of the queen. The young princess, too young to fully comprehend the meaning of death, had been desperately pleading with everyone, to bring back her mother. "She's in heaven," the servants would tell her, "heaven's a beautiful place! She's happy there!" But to a 5-year-old child this was completely unacceptable. "Why did she go there??? Isn't she happy here? With Daddy, and me, and nii-chan and other nii-chan and….." her questions would always trail off to a forlorn wail that not many people could cure her of.

Completely misunderstanding the concept of heaven, Misao decided that if no one else were willing to find her mother for her, she would do it herself. Waiting until the servants left her room, she quickly scratched a note on some parchment ("I've gone to heaven to find mommy" it said), and left it on her pillow. She snuck out of the castle and set off in an unknown direction asking almost everyone she sees, the directions to heaven.

Of course a child of 5 couldn't get very far without someone noticing, but surprisingly, this little girl was able to make her way outside past the royal garden, and was only a few steps away from the front gate when a big brown blob suddenly appeared in front of her and she ran right in to it.

"Itai!!…." Misao cried and yet again started her mournful wail.

"Ahhh… Gomen ne!… what's a little one like you doing here so late at night?" The big brown blob turned out to be a 12-year-old boy, and when she looked up to see who was talking to her, she saw the most intense ice blue eyes staring curiously at her. Misao was stunned, she had never met any other children other than those of noble families, who were arrogant in their own wealth and importance. Only her brothers gave her any loving attention. This boy however treated her differently and one simple, sincere, question was enough to make the little girl take an immediate liking to him. Her crying was temporally forgotten.

"I… I'm looking for heaven. Can you tell me how to get there?"

Aoshi raised an eyebrow, "why would u want to go there?" He took in the silk fabric of her night gown and the matching slippers. ::She must be the daughter of some noble staying at the castle::. "Heaven is a very far away place, not somewhere you or I can get to right now."

"But… But…….. My mommy is there!! And I want to SEEEEE her………." Her lower lip started to tremble as she threatened to start sobbing again. "Everyone says she's never coming back… Why wont she come back???"

The loud complaining alerted the gate guards standing just meters away. "What's all the racket?" One of them walked over.

"Gomen…, this little girl seems to have lost her way. I'll take her back." The boy answered and quickly started to lead little Misao back towards the castle.

"But I don't want to go back! I want to go to heaven!"

"You know… my father's in heaven too. I really want to see him, but we're not allowed to go there."

"But…why not?" big curious eyes looked up at her escort.

Now how was he to explain this to a 5-year-old girl? He knitted his brow in concentration. "Heaven's a special place. Your mommy has to go there because… because it's her turn to become an angel. It's really a beautiful place! With fields and fields of flowers and blue skies… and just because you cant see her, doesn't mean she cant see you. She's watching you every day. Do you think she'll be happy to see you crying all the time?"

Little Misao looked rather taken aback at the thought, and slowly shook her head.

"Now we should go back so your father wont be worried about you. You wouldn't want him to worry either would you?"

"No. I guess not." She pouted cutely.

They walked silently for a while in no particular direction while Misao held on tightly to the hand of the older boy.

"Alright , I don't know where you're staying, so you have to lead the way ne?"

They walked back through the royal gardens and Misao lead them to some bushes by the fortress wall.

"This is the secret passage that Mommy showed me." She said while tugging on his sleeve excitedly. "It leads right to my room! Mommy said not to use it without telling anyone, I hope she won't be mad at me today." Her voice was tinged with worry

They pushed open a trap door on the wall and entered. By this time the boy was getting a bit worried. What kind of a child gets to stay in a room with a secret passageway into the royal gardens? But he had already taken on the responsibility of getting her back safely, he couldn't very well leave before he accomplished his task. The two walked through a dark corridor holding the almost burned out candle Misao had left by the entrance.

"THAT way leads to the kitchen, and THAT way leads to Daddy's study and THAT way leads to the library…" Misao happily pointed out to her companion every time they passed a fork in the passage. They finally came to a stop in front of a stone panel. Voices could be heard on the other side.

"Where can a 5 year old child have gone with a castle full of people? Just FIND her, you standing her telling me how sorry you are for not watching her is NOT going to bring my daughter back." A very commanding voice spoke.

"That's daddy, He sounds worried," Misao whispered. She then pushed open the door with some effort and help. The door turned out to be a hidden panel on the wall of a large chamber. They emerged in to a very luxurious setting of while silk draperies and a grand four-poster bed hung with embroidered satin. The only person in the room was now sitting on the bed. At the sound of the door opening he turned to face them.

"Misao!"

"Daddy!" The little girl ran into her father's open arms.

"Oh Misao I was so worried! Don't ever do that to me again! Where have you been?"

The boy was speechless at the site before him. In the half year he had worked at the castle, he had never met anyone of importance and certainly not anyone from the royal family. However, with the gold and silver embroidered green velvet robe, and the thin circlet atop his head, no one could mistake it; this was the King of Seralon. He immediately bent on one knee and respectfully bowed his head.

"I wanted to go find Mommy in heaven and I was looking for her but I ran in to a big brown blob and he told me that I couldn't go there but that Mommy was in a really beautiful place with fields of flowers and blue skies and butterflies, well I don think he said butterflies but I think they must have butterflies, and that Mommy was watching over me and that I shouldn't cry or else Mommy wouldn't be very happy and that I shouldn't run away because Daddy would be worried and and and then be brought me back here." Misao took a deep breath as she had said all the words very quickly and all in one go.

"Is that so? Tell me about yourself." Hiko questioned while gesturing for him to rise.

"Thank you your majesty." Answered the boy as he rose to a standing position once again. "Boku wa Aoshi desu. I enlisted for the royal army half a year ago when my father passed away, and have been working in the stables, helping take care of the horses and occasionally training with the soldiers. I was on my way to my sleeping quarters tonight when I ran in to the princess. I'm sorry, I did not know who she was until just now."

Hiko nodded while he pondered the explanation. "Well Aoshi, you've brought my daughter back, and I suppose you deserve some sort of reward, is there anything u would like?"

"No your majesty. I don't need a reward. I'm happy I could be of some help." Aoshi was still trying to take in the identity of the little girl he had just spent the last 2 hours with.

"Alright if that is your wish," Hiko replied, but still making a mental note to send some gold to Aoshi's mother. "You may go. Through a proper door this time " the King added with a smile.

"A-O-Shi… Aoshi-sama!" Misao giggled then ran to her newly adopted Aoshi-sama giving him a big hug (as big as she can manage anyway). "Good night my Aoshi-sama! Come play with me again!"

===

Early the next morning, the little princess was up and about with uncontrollable excitement. "I wanna see my Aoshi-sama" she squealed to anyone who would lend her an ear. Unfortunately for Hiko, this task fell upon him. After bouncing around her own room, then every other room she could think of there after, she rampaged into her father study and bombarded him with questions like "Where is my Aoshi-sama?" and "When can my Aoshi-sama come play with me again?"

Hiko wanted very much to devote his attention to his small daughter, but with the death of the queen, Hiko had become the sole concierge of the affairs of state. This took up almost all of his time.

"Aoshi is most certainly busy with his own duties at the moment. You can visit him for a while at noon when the soldiers take their lunch."

"Oh but what will I do until then! Daddy! You can make my Aoshi-sama take a break and come play with me cant you?"

King Hiko wasn't about to drag the boy away from his given duties just to keep the princess company. If word spreads that Aoshi gets special treatment and can avoid his responsibilities on behalf of the little girl, resentment is sure to spread. Just when all hope seemed forsaken, and idea came to him.

"Misao-chan, I'm sure the soldiers don't get very good food at the barracks. Why don't u go to the kitchen for the morning and see if the cook will teach you how to make something to bring to Aoshi when u see him?"

Misao knitted her brow as if thinking very hard on her father's suggestion. "Alright," she finally agreed with a giggle. "Misao-chan gets to make something for her Aoshi-sama!!! Yay!!!" She gave her father a kiss and wrapped her small arms around his neck and whispered in to his ear, "I still really miss mommy though."

"I know sweetheart, I miss her too. We all do. But she left something behind for us didn't she?"

Misao nodded.

"You have a new baby brother now. He doesn't have a mommy either, but he has you, his big sister. And I know you're going to take care of him, and do a great job of it too." Hiko smiled reassuringly and gave his daughter a loving pat on the head. "Alright, now off you go."

"I will be a WONDERFUL big sister! I promise!" The little girl declared excitedly before she bounded off again with one of the servants following close behind.

"You shouldn't encourage your daughter's interactions with that boy, save her the heartache of seeing him leave." Saitou Hajime, had walked into the room sometime before Misao's departure. He was the youngest brother of the late Queen of Seralon, and also the commander of the elite squadron of the Wolves. "Shinomori Aoshi. He's the boy I have been telling you about. That kid has unlimited potential when it comes to martial arts. He's also very intelligent as well; I plan to put him to good use."

"Sou ka… I assume you'll be taking him to Okina then?"

"'Okina is our best general after all. I'm sending Aoshi there the day after tomorrow with the contingent of soldiers he requested to watch the west border," Saitou replied.

Hiko laid back in his chair as if thinking through the situation, "it can't be helped," he sighed, "I'll find a way to tell Misao."

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Thanks for reading, Tell me what you think! ^_^