DM: -busy trying to scrub off black marker-
Misao: -snickers-
DM: -pauses long enough to glare-
Misao: -snickers some more-
DM: -grabs katana- Ryu no Ikari! --Dragon's Anger/Fury--
Misao: -dives for cover- Watch it!
Kenshin, Aoshi, and Kaoru: ... -collective sweatdrop-
DM: Okay, now that that's taken care of -Misao can be seen tied up with a gag- I wish to thank everyone who has reviewed. I am also going to apologize here and now for this--I will be unable to update as quickly as I have to catch up on some schoolwork, artwork. etc. I will try to now update every two days. Hopefully no one will be upset with me about this, I am very sorry! Also, Aoshi is a total pain to write, lol. One more thing before the disclaimer and start of story...
A question!
Okay, here's the thing... I was wanting to write Aoshi becoming possessive, not exactly lovey-dovey towards our favorite weasel, more of a darker more serious love which I personally think is more in character with him... but I wanted your opinion on the matter. Do you want a little fluff or no? If there is to be any fluff, it will come from Misao only-as it would be pushing keeping her in context to the extreme to do that... you can imagine how OOC Aoshi would be, lol. Or should I continue with my previous thoughts, the more serious tint to their love? Please review and tell me, I need to know before chapter 7! Next chapter!
Arigato in advance. : )
Here's the Disclaimer: Well, nothing I can do will change the fact that I don't own Rurouni Kenshin... However, Etsu and other made up characters do in fact belong to me. Not like it really matters, but I'm tired of saying I own nothing, lol.
--Chapter 6-Father's Wrath--
Etsu paced the floor nervously. Her husband had been in a towering temper all that day after finding their daughter gone. Soujiro-san had played his part admirably, at first pretending to be surprised and shocked-then 'consoled' her over the news of her daughter's 'disappearance.' He had also tried to placate the older man by assuring him that he was not mad over the girl's reaction. Soujiro-san had then said that he would have probably done the same thing in her shoes.
She was just happy that her husband had at least reigned in his temper while Soujiro-san had been here. After he left, however, all hell broke loose.
Deciding to leave the man alone while he vented by breaking things in their bedroom, Etsu paced. Back and forth. Back and forth. One foot in front of the other.
Needless to say, she was worried about her daughter's well-being. At the moment, however, she hoped that her husband wouldn't be able to find her. She thought about the news she had heard earlier that day.
--Flashback--
"Makimachi-san!" a young woman's voice called to her over the noise of the crowd that filled the small market place. "Makimachi-san, matte(1)!" the voice called out again, more urgently.
Etsu turned to see a young woman with long raven hair chase after her.
Panting slightly, Himura Kaoru finally caught up to the elusive woman. "Makimachi-san, I have something to tell you!"
The older woman nodded slightly, "What is it?"
"I believe that you've met my husband, Himura Kenshin, yesterday-do you remember what he talked to you about?"
Etsu nodded, starting to wonder where this was going-hopefully Misao was all right.
"Well, Aoshi was supposed to leave last night to return-"
Looking slightly startled, the other woman broke in quickly, "Aoshi? Who is that?"
Kaoru sighed and twirled a strand of hair around her finger. She looked thoughtful for a moment, then responded. "There is no easy way to describe him, Makimachi-san. But I can tell you that he will take excellent care of your daughter, if anyone can protect her right now-it's him." Seriousness radiated from her calm sapphire blue eyes.
"Where is she going?"
Kaoru opened her mouth to answer, then saw Kenshin coming towards them, trying to get through the crowd without pushing anyone.
Etsu waited, mildly impatient as the red headed man finally reached them. Turning to Kaoru, "You were saying?"
"Oh yeah! Well they're headed to-" she paused at the warning look on her husband's face.
"Etsu-dono, we do not have Aoshi's permission to disclose his whereabouts-but as soon as Sessha receives word that it is all right for you to be told, you can rest assured that Sessha will tell you the location of Misao-dono personally." Kenshin smiled his trade-mark rurouni smile.
The older woman was not too happy with this, but no trace of her concern about the lack of information showed. "Arigato, Himura-san."
--End of flashback--
At least she had been guaranteed to some extent that Misao-chan was safe. Still...
A loud crash startled her. Turning to see what the maids were taking out this time, she noticed her favorite blue antique vase with the ivy print on it broken into tiny pieces. Okay, this had gone on long enough. Turning on her heel sharply, she stalked towards her bedroom.
"Kanaye!" she frowned at her husband as she saw the state of their room.
He paused, then growled, "Leave me alone, Etsu."
She walked forward, ignoring him, "You destroyed my favorite vase!"
Running a hand through his graying hair, he set down the next breakable object he was about to throw.
Etsu frowned at him, but kept most of her anger out of her face.
"Gomen nasai, Etsu."
A maid came in timidly to clean up the mess. Kanaye stopped her with a brief gesture of his hand, "Get me Okina-san. Now!"
The girl bowed swiftly and bolted out of the room.
"Surely you do not intend to use Okina-san to track down our daughter? You've already asked the police!"
A heavy frown had settled on the man's face, "They will not search for her. Saito-san refuses to let his men take the case. He says that she left of her own free will, there were not any notes to prove she had been taken forcefully; therefore he would not search for her."
"Hnnn.." Etsu wondered if her daughter had become friends at some point with that wolf of a policeman. She smiled inwardly, not as though Saito-san would ever admit to a friendship with anyone. 'I wonder how Tokio got through to him.' she wondered briefly.
----------------------------------------------------------------x
No traces of the bright color that had filled the sky hours before showed now. Instead, myriads of diamond-like stars filled the inky blackness of the night sky. The moon showered the party with a silvery glow.
Though Misao barely took time to notice all this. Instead, she tried to concentrate on keeping a straight line on the dirt road. Miles of forest were on either side, all manner of noise issued forth from its depths.
Sighing slightly, she tried her best to keep up with the men. Thanks to her training and all her wanderings at night, she kept up admirably.
Han'nya-kun always stayed beside her, and Shikijo would often drop back to converse with the girl before going back up front again. Hyottoko and Beshimi stayed in the back of the group, talking in quiet tones. Probably because the small man didn't want to get on the wrong side of Misao again.
Presently, Aoshi called the group to a halt.
Misao's POV
"Hyottoko, Beshimi-you will take the eastern branch of the road ahead. You may kill whoever tries to follow you. Stay at the house until I send for you."
I shivered slightly at the coolness of his tone, he had just given his men permission to kill and stated it like it really didn't matter what happened to those foolish enough to follow his group. The men bowed and started walking away.
"Han'nya, Shikijo-take the northern route. Collect our horses and supplies then report back."
"Yes, sir!" the two men chorused as they disappeared into the blackness of the night.
I shifted from foot to foot, the cold was starting to get to me. Also, not knowing what I was supposed to do was starting to irk me.
Aoshi-sama glanced my way. I could feel the hair on the nape of my neck rise at how he looked. His ice blue eyes gleamed in the moonlight, almost looking ethereal. Glad that I wasn't on the wrong side of him, I shifted again. Rubbing my arms slightly, I asked, "Is there anything I can do, Aoshi-sama?"
The silence held.
"I guess not." I muttered, walking towards a giant pine tree near to the edge of the road.
"Where are you going?" a quiet half-questioning, half-demanding tone greeted me.
"Going to sit down, a tree's much more comfortable than the ground." I replied over my shoulder as I prepared to jump up into the tree.
Suddenly, I felt a pressure on my shoulder. "Wha-?"
"You should stay down here." his eyes stared unblinkingly down into mine.
"Why?" yep, curiosity strikes again.
He motioned towards the road Han'nya and Shikijo took.
I frowned up at him, "They're not here yet though. And it will be much more comfortable to sit in the tree."
Blue eyes took on a slight sheen of anger. "You will stay down here."
Getting tired of this, I stuck my tongue out and him childishly. "Make me."
Without another word, and quicker than the eye could blink, I found myself bundled up in his long jacket-probably to restrict my movement-and unceremoniously slung over his shoulder.
Now, he must have had a good reason for this, but for heaven's sake, I was not a sack of potatoes to be tossed around like this. Though, as my traitorous mind pointed out-there were some advantages. I could feel, through the material of the jacket, the way his muscles rippled under my body as he moved back towards the road. Also, the man had a fine-
Slapping myself mentally, I tried to remove those thoughts... without any luck.
"Crap."
Aoshi-sama paused slightly as I made that quiet, oh-so-unlady-like, outburst.
I could feel my face flaming as he set me down. In order to hide this, I started to shrug off his jacket-but he stopped me.
Gazing up, I guess there were still some tell-tale traces that could be picked up in the moonlight, because his eyebrow arched just the tiniest bit. Though that was hard to tell, because of the lack of light. However, I was known for my sharp eyesight back with the others.
Feeling grateful to Han'nya-kun and Shikijo for arriving with the horses and supplies at that moment, I backed away slightly. Aoshi-sama gave me one more glance before walking past me to where the two men waited.
The two men were seated on two of three horses. I gulped... meaning I'd have to ride with someone. Trying to quell the tiny hope that Aoshi-sama would allow me to ride with him, I watched as they discussed something.
Whatever it was, Shikijo was smirking slightly about it.
Aoshi-sama led a large dark-colored horse up to where I stood. Springing lightly into the saddle, he reached out a hand to help me up.
I was pretty sure I was beet-red at this point, but I was fortunate that-because Aoshi had placed me in front of him-he couldn't see my face. Feeling his arm snake around my waist to keep me from falling off, I was pretty sure that I couldn't get any more red than I was now.
Taking the lead, Aoshi urged the horse into a gallop. Now, the ride itself was pretty bumpy, so I kept finding myself pressed to his chest. After a few minutes of trying to keep from doing so, I eventually gave up on the fact that I was not able to stop myself from doing so.
Feeling irked at this, I settled back into his chest and pouted. I was pretty sure that he was smirking at this point, which did absolutely nothing for my temper.
I could feel Aoshi-sama press me closer to himself as the horse galloped faster. Wherever we were headed, he wanted to get there quickly.
Then my ears caught the faint sounds of more pairs of galloping hooves. I tried to turn around slightly to see, but Aoshi-sama wouldn't let me. Giving up on that too, I tried to imagine who could be following us.
Then a thought hit me like a slap upside the head.
"Gramps!"
"Who?" Aoshi-sama's deep voice questioned.
I turned slightly in an effort to peer up at him, "Gramps." Seeing his look, I embellished, "He owns the Aoi-Ya and is a part of the Oniwabanshu."
"Okina." his flat voice conveyed nothing of what he felt at the moment. Nothing new, right?
"Father must have asked him to retrieve me..." my voice trailed off at this thought. "I'm sorry, Aoshi-sama."
"You have nothing to apologize for." while the tone wasn't quite brisk, you could tell he wanted me to be quietat the moment.
Fortunately, our horses seemed to be faster than theirs; for while we could always hear the faint hoofbeats, they never seemed to be able to catch up. After a few hours, we couldn't hear them at all. I sighed quietly in relief.
While I dearly love Gramps, he would pay in spades if he caught me. Then my mother would have gotten whatever was left of him.
Then a shadow dropped from the tree branches overhead and landed in front of our tired horses.
"Aoshi, long time no see." The shadow straightened, allowing what moonlight came through the leaves to reveal his identity.
"Gramps!" I yelled, "I'm not going back!"
The old man chuckled, "Now, why on earth would I bring you back?"
I paused at this, my heartbeat slowly going back to normal, "But didn't Father-"
"Hmph, your father is of no concern. Not when he's ready to treat you like that." his mustache even curled in disdain along with the rest of his features.
"Then, why are you following us?"
He chuckled again, "You didn't stop to say goodbye. Now how could you do that to an old man?"
Sliding down from the saddle, I ran to hug Gramps. "Well, bye Gramps, and thanks for everything! Please tell Okon and Omasu bye for me and I'm sorry I didn't tell them too."
Gramps pretended to think about this, stroking his small beard in thought, "I don't know, that's a pretty tall order..."
"Gramps!"
"All right, all right! I'll tell them for you!" he put up his hands in mock defeat.
"Aoshi, I have had everything prepared for your arrival."
Aoshi-sama nodded in response.
Gramps then looked slightly irked, "You knew I was following, didn't you?" Silence greeted his accusation, "You did! Making a poor old man like me have to traipse after you like that."
Aoshi-sama shrugged slightly, "One can never be too careful."
----------------------------------------------------------------x
--END NOTES--
(1) matte- wait
Okay! I decided to put in Okina in this chapter, I just hope he doesn't sound OOC. And good grief! Aoshi was being a total pain during this chapter... XP I guess I kind of used Misao as my way to vent, lol. Though it's not like she did much, ne? Merely stuck out her tongue... I would have liked to use a baseball bat after the headache he caused, lol. X )
Anyways, hope this chapter was worth the wait! Please review and tell me what you think!
DM: -rubs temples-
Misao: Hey! I didn't get any action in this!
DM: -glare- Stop complaining.
Misao: -sits down- Whatever, at least I got to-
DM: -death glare- Don't you finish that! It's bad enough you made me put it into the story!
Misao: -shrugs and hums happily-