Note: THIS IS NOT A SONG FICTION. I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO THIS SONG!

Title: "1o Different Ways to Say I'm Sorry"

Summary: Au. AxM If High School is filled with heart-ache, imagine collage. Going to college means facing Aoshi Shinomori again. Can Misao really face her past sins? I'm not good at summaries, but this is pretty good.

A/n: Chapter 8. It's been along time coming. Will Aoshi forgive Misao? Will she forgive him? WHO KNOWS! Read on padawan learner.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dashboard Confessional's Lyrics or rights to the song "Vindicated". I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. I own nothing.

Chapter 7: Vindicated

Hope dangles on a string
Like slow spinning
redemption
Winding in and winding out
The shine of it has
caught my eye

And roped me in
So,
mesmerizing and so hypnotizing,
I am
captivated, I amVindicated
I am
selfish
I am wrong
I am right
I swear I'm
right
Swear I knew it all along
And I am
flawed, but I am cleaning up so well
I am
seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself

(Not all of song)

--------------------Prequel-----------------------------

Vindicated: To clear of accusation, blame, suspicion, or doubt with supporting arguments or proof

--------------------Story-----------------------------

August, 11 2004-The Aoi-ya-Kyoto-12:00pm

Misao was acting….well more Misao like by the next day. Or at least that was what Okina got out of his hour long phone call with his favorite granddaughter…not to mention only granddaughter. Okina whistled a happy tune as he went around the Aoi-ya taking orders. Okon and Omasu were in similar states, but not for the same reasons.

"HIKO'S COMING…DOES MY HAIR LOOK OK?" Okon yelled at a very dazed Omasu.

"Um would you kill me if I said no?" Omasu watched with veiled amusement as Okon flipped out. Okina merely laughed and went into his office. He winced as he forced his joints to bend as he sat in his desk chair. He wasn't as young as he acted. Okina sighed and opened the top right desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. His arthritis was getting worse. Just as he dry swallowed the pills he looked up and saw a picture of his Misao-Chan, with her Aoshi-sama.

"Aoshi…" Okina had not seen the cold young man in years. Okina then smiled, silly children didn't they know that no matter how hard you try you can't beat fate…never. Misao had called him that afternoon just as she did every Saturday and yet she sounded near to her old self. She had obviously seen Aoshi though she had not spoken to him about it. He didn't mind not being told, he could hear things in her voice that no one had ever bothered to hear before. The only person who knew Misao like himself was Aoshi. But Aoshi had blown it. Or had he? Okina guessed that only time would tell. Okina winced as he tried to open his pen cap; yes time was catching up with him.

August, 11 2004-Dorm Block A- 11:45 AM

Megumi applied her lip stick perfectly before she grabbed her beaded purse. It was time to meet Aoshi for coffee at The Tokyo Bean. She was so excited he had sounded nervous when she had called him and she was SURE that he was ready to take the next step. He had been acting oddly all week; she supposed he was stressed over the new semester's classes. They hadn't had a lot of time for each other lately. And then one day last week Megumi had seen "her". "She" had been buying cereal and milk at the local convenience store and Megumi had seen her telltale braid. Megumi had a hard time containing her characteristic anger while she watched the smiling shorter woman.

"Megumi?" Megumi looked up at her equally beautiful roommate and best friend Tomoe. Tomoe was a gorgeous soft spoken girl from Kyoto. She was majoring in children's primary education. And her temperament suited it. Tomoe had a sad past however, her parents had died when she was 16 and she had to take care of her little brother. Luckily she had a generous uncle that had paid her way to college. Now she worked hard and was constantly volunteering at homeless shelters. An angel in disguise.

"Yes Tom?" Tomoe frowned slightly at her unwanted nickname that, with Megumi, never seemed to go away.

"You just looked lost; I was wondering what was wrong? Is it Aoshi?" It was Megumi's turn to frown. Was she worried about Aoshi? No, she was fine with Aoshi. She was fine with the world. She was sure that he was going to ask her to marry him. They had been together, in her opinion, more than long enough. She was ready to finally seal her fate with the tall quite man from Kyoto; she was ready to have his heart for the rest of their life.

"Oh nothing, I haven't seen Aoshi for a while and we are going out today. You should go find yourself a good man like mine." Megumi let out one of her famous laughs before she patted Tomoe on the arm, "I'll be fine. You have a good day now and don't spend it all at that damned shelter. Bye Tom."

Megumi sashayed out the small dorm room and into the elevator. Of course her luck was awful and there in the elevator was her LEAST favorite delivery boy, Sanosuke Sagara.

"KITSUNE!" Megumi shuddered at the disgusting nickname. (Tomoe: "A taste of her own medicine!")

"Sagara, what do you want?" Sano looked happy at her mean tone; could this boy not take a hint? She was dating the hottest guy on earth, HOW/WHY would she want this spiky hair'd freak…with amazing forearms. 'Oh,' she winced, 'Bad thought'.

"I am delivering a pizza to room 100 and room 204. What do YOU want Kitsune?" Megumi rolled her eyes at his obvious hint.

"To met my boyfriend like I am supposed to in a few minutes."

"Icicle? I saw him the other day, with some short chick with a long braid. Yeah I was passing by the commons, and there they were. She looked pretty upset though…" The moment those words reached Megumi's perfect ears she was whipped into a jealous furry. The force of her hatred for Misao was truly amazing. Oh she knew what the small female looked like. For all Aoshi's supposed indifference for Misao, he still had a few pictures of her. Megumi had found them one day when she had spent the night. They were tucked in his seemingly unopened copy of War and Peace. She had not known who the woman was until one night when Aoshi had drunkenly admitted to her that he still had feelings for his first girlfriend. It had taken all Megumi's strength not to hunt down the girl the moment she had found the pictures.

What did Misao have that Megumi didn't have and more so? Megumi had her perfect figure and Misao with her body of a fourteen year old. Megumi's long and styled hair versus Misao's long braid full of split ends. Megumi's glowing personality versus Misao's own fiery one, the one she had so eloquently displayed when she had yelled at the clerk at the convenience store. To Megumi there was no comparison, none at all. Megumi got off the elevator at its stop. It was time to confront Aoshi.

August, 11 2004-Tokyo Bean-11:58 AM earlier that day

Misao nervously shuffled her feet as she waited for Aoshi. She wasn't exactly sure what he was going to talk to her about. Surly they would speak about Hannya, but would he also bring up their relationship? Had he thought about the possibility of forgiving her? She had no idea.

She tugged at her wavy black hair that was out of its normal braid that day. Misao decided that she couldn't stand merely standing there waiting so she went to get a coffee from the bar.

"Latte please." Suddenly Misao heard a very very familiar laugh.

"Oh Kenshin taht is soo funny!" There was no way I could miss that voice and laugh.

"KAORU!"

Dead silence filled the café as a very guilty looking Kamiya Kaoru waved to a shocked Makimachi Misao.

August, 11 2004-Streets of Tokyo-12:10 AM

Aoshi tightened his hold on his trench coat as a cool wind whipped past him. It was odd that a cold front had blown through Tokyo so early in the year. A bad omen.

He knew he was late for his meeting and so he rushed his pace. For a brief moment he closed his eyes and saw two different faces. Two different worlds that were not meant to mix, and yet he must make them mix. Misao and Megumi had to meet and he had to start his life with them as friends. He would stay with Megumi romantically though he loved Misao. Megumi had been with him too long to be thrown away like a used rag. That wasn't fair towards her. While Aoshi was thinking of Misao, he though of that morning; he had spent all his time since dawn mediating over his "Misao" problem. After a while he had come to a reasonable solution.

He had spent too much of his adult life blaming people. Blaming himself, Misao. Fate, Hannya, and the drunk driver. He knew that he had been far too hard on Misao. She had only been a victim of fate. If she could have done something to stop the accident she would have done it. Another factor that had allowed his broken heart to forgive her was a dream he had. It could have been his subconscious or it could have been a spirit. Whatever it was it had made him revaluate the situation. The spirit in his restless dream had told him that nothing could have stopped Hannya, Beshimi, Shikijo, and Hyottoko from getting into the car. Not Misao and not him. They had set their own fate. Grudgingly Aoshi had come to the conclusion to forgive her. To take back his pride and forgive the woman he had blamed for so long. It was time to face reality. He was just about to enter the Tokyo Bean when he heard raised voices.

"YOU WHORE HOW DARE YOU COME HERE AND STEAL MY MAN? HE HATES YOU, GET OVER IT! YOU HEARTLESS BITCH I AM READY TO KILL YOU RIGHT HERE. NOTHING WILL STOP US FROM BEING TOGETHER!" Aoshi's eyes narrowed when he heard Megumi's telltale voice. When he entered the café and saw Misao going bright red he knew that he had to stop this.

"That is quite enough." But before these words could be heard a loud slap rang through out the café.

"Never ever think that you will ever EVER understand the situation. I LOVED them. It KILLED ME to see them DIE. Who is the heartless BITCH now? You are NOTHING. If I EVER hear you speak of Hannya and the others EVER again, I will personally HUNT you down and kill you with my bare hands." With this diatribe said Misao started to stalk out of the café. Aoshi reached out a hand to stop her but she evaded his grasp. With tears rolling down her pale cheeks she ran from the café.

Silence filled the café. Megumi reached over to touch Aoshi's arm but stopped when she saw his glacier cold gaze.

"Aoshi, I…" Before she could get another word out he, like Misao, swept out of the café. He wasn't going to let her go that easily.

TBC

A/n: more later! I am feeling very lazy:)