One word: Pendari. Her single-shot stabs at humor have become an enjoyable moment for me (and I'm sure, everyone as well.) Her mini scenarios have, in some ways, inspired this little experiment. While doing research for Loneliness, I stumbled upon some character profiles that gave me the supporting ideas for this... thing. But honestly, don't you just hate it when Aoshi gets paired up with another woman?
Disclaimer: RK belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki.
Pairing Aoshi-sama Up
The sun was happily up over the spring sky as the people of Kyoto milled about its business. It was a prosperous time. A lot of new goods were coming in from all directions and a lot of money was to be made. The times were changing, services of the sword weren't needed for politics anymore-- well, not that much-- but also for the protection of precious cargo and merchants.
For the Oniwabanshuu, it was beginning to get boring.
A flurry of giggles erupted from one of the Aoiya's private chambers. Such glee was not looked down upon, but any normal person would be drawn to the subject of conversation from which the two girls Okon and Misao were drawing their humor.
"Oh, oh! How about Omasu?" Misao, the younger girl, gasped as she slightly recovered from her fit.
"Don't kid me," the older one, Okon, giggled as she doubled over in chortles, her long hair swept forward and down to the floor as she went. She straightened up and said, "Although her severity can rival Aoshi-sama's, she's still no match for him. I can imagine their life together to be very quiet, like this."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Another round of giggles.
"Severity? Then how about Megumi?"
"I don't think Takani-sensei would be the type to serve tea," Okon mused. She made an impression of the lady doctor, throwing her hair behind her shoulder and saying, "Shinomori Aoshi, if you don't get your butt off that floor this minute, I'll whip you till you're bruised and bloody!"
The image of a dominating lady doctor with a foot against the ex-okashira's quivering chest brought tears to their eyes.
"I agree, I agree!" Misao moaned, her back on the floor, "For all her foxiness, she does have that scary aura of discipline."
"Wouldn't you think they'd make a pair, though?"
"Their disciplines would clash with one another," the younger said after a second's thought, "I think it'd bring the house down much faster than it would if Megumi and Sano were together."
They slapped the floorboards with their palms, ever more enjoying the vision of a rooster and a fox fighting.
"But wait, wait," Okon sat up, brushing her hair away from her face, "what's your idea on Kamiya-san?"
"I think she's more effective with her bokken. I think it's magic," Misao said seriously, her eyes wide, "Look at what she did to Himura, making the poor man cook and clean like that!"
"All those whacks to the head might have made his bloodlust shy away!" she continued, awestruck.
She turned her attention to the giggling Okon, who was by then imagining a black and blue Aoshi at the mercy of the only member of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. "Ne, Okon," the younger girl prodded her companion, an idea coming to her, "maybe I should start whacking Aoshi-sama around with a bokken. Maybe that would get him to notice me, ne?"
It was at that moment when an innocent Aoshi passed by and unfortunately heard the last sentence uttered before even more riotous fits ensued. If anyone had been hanging around that corridor, they'd have noticed the blood drain away from the ex-okashira's face as he continued on his way to wherever he intended to go.
Where was it that he had intended to go?
Owari.
-----
To be honest, I had wanted to add
Saitou and Hiko in, but my brain's too stupid for that. Maybe Pendari
might do it, if you beg her enough.
:begs at Pendari:
:begsbegsbegs:
Speaking of Saitou, his seiyuu, Suzuoki Hirotaka, passed away at the age of 56 on the 6th of August this year 2006. He had apparently died of lung cancer, which just goes to show that a cancer stick is indeed a cancer stick. I really do admire Suzuoki-sama's voice talents (he voiced a lot of characters in a lot of the titles that I like), but I hope Saitou would learn his lesson from his seiyuu's passing. Suzuoki-sama, the anime world will miss you. (The actual Saitou Hajime, however, had died of a stomach ulcer.)
Thanks for reading!