- Chapter 7: Author's Note: -
Once again, I am so sorry for the lack of updates.
I am back now, and I know this chapter will be much longer than the chapter I gave to tide you guys over till the next series of chapters.
As I've said before, I do not own any of the original characters or plotlines of this perfect series written by Nobuhiro Watsuki. Therefore, I am merely adding a different plotline to create a chance for Aoshi and Misao to get together sooner and Himura/Kaoru and Sanosuke/Megumi. I might even throw in some Yahiko/Tsubame and Saito/Tokio. :D
- Chapter 7: Pre-Wedding Reunions: -
Misao's POV:
Flashback to the Previous Chapter:
Then when they parted from their kiss, Misao, who was still recovering from the headiness she received from his kisses, couldn't speak. So instead, it was he who spoke up first while looking at Misao endearingly, "Patience, young one, the ceremony will be here before you know it, and you know you will feel better if you have your friends here; for an occasion such as our marriage."
END OF FLASHBACK
She rolled her eyes but relented, knowing Aoshi was right. Misao may not have wanted to wait to marry her ex-Okashira; however, she waited this long; what was another couple of days to her who's stayed waiting for twelve years?
Misao wanted Kaoru and the others there when she married the man of her dreams. So, instead of being tormented further by his kisses which held promises of what was to come once they married, Misao pushes Aoshi out the room. Then, Misao commands him to go and tell Okina the joyous news before slamming the shoji shut in his humor-filled and slightly incredulous face.
Two Days Later:
The Aoiya is practically bursting with customers; between the multitude of well-wishers for Misao and Aoshi and the normal clientele, the staff was drowning in the ever-piling workload. The employees were also busy handling the preparations for the wedding, seeing as Misao was too injured to take on any such heavy lifting and stressful tasks. Misao felt like she could help since it was her wedding! However, they demanded she rests off her injuries; they included her husband-to-be.
If Misao had had her way, she would have been able to help plan HER wedding; however, Misao's fiance and the others did not let her, claiming once more that she was, indeed, too injured for any such things. Insert an eye roll here from Misao.
The wedding happens to be a week away, and Misao wondered if hiding that she was getting married from her letter to Kaoru caused the Kenshin-gumi to decide not to come. Or worse, Kenshin might have grown a wild strand of hair and may have deemed it unsafe for the others to go to Kyoto and is on his way alone.
Instead of writing that she was getting married, Misao had reported that she was seriously injured and needed assistance with the Yaro clan. Her letter happened not to be too far off from the truth, as she did need help concerning the rogue band of ninjas terrorizing Japan. However, Misao had only wanted to surprise the others of her marriage and lured them out here with something else in her letter to them.
Now she hoped for Yahiko to have read that letter so that she might successfully surprise them.
Misao felt a warrior-ki pressing against hers inquisitively, and she knew it had to be Kenshin.
Misao looked out her Okashira's office window hopefully. But, her hopes and plan had not been in vain; most of the Kenshin-gumi stood outside the Aoiya gates gazing at all the red decorations on the roofs and gates.
She sighed happily at seeing the shocked looks on their faces and that her plan had worked. Inwardly though, she was disappointed that a few of the invited seemed to be missing.
Misao, who couldn't move very fast due to her injuries, expected to meet them at the reception area by the time she would make it down the stairs. But, hilariously enough, when she reached the receptionist's desk, her friends were nowhere in sight. She could only guess that they were still staring in shock at the obviousness of what was going to take place very soon.
Slowly once more and growling at her fragility right at that moment, Misao took one heavy step after another until she came upon another hilarious sight from where she stopped at the terrace of the Aoiya.
It was hysterical to Misao that her friends were still too stunned to do anything but stare at a particular decoration posted on the Aoiya gate's door, a sign declaring the upcoming nuptials of a Makimachi Misao and Shinomori Aoshi.
A laugh bubbled out from her lips at the sight of such hilarity, finally drawing their gazes to her, and she yelled, "You guys made it!"
Misao dreaded walking down those steps as her leg and back still seared with pain at every step she took, but she was too excited at having her friends here with her on such happy terms that she did not care if she was in any more pain.
Wincing as she took the first step off of the veranda, Misao locked eyes with a concerned-looking Kenshin Himura, who immediately saw that she was, indeed, struggling to walk. He moved like lightning and was there at the bottom, grabbing her hand before she made it to the second step and helping her the rest of the way down the five-step elevated porch.
Once the sudden wave of dizziness passed, she was quick to wrap him into a gentler hug than she would have normally given him. Kenshin also made sure to be delicate in returning the embrace and said softly, "Congratulations to you on your upcoming marriage Misao-dono. I wondered if you have yet to succeed in your mission to gain that smile from your beloved, but seeing what is to happen, I'd say you did it."
Misao smiled and then whispered something that made Kenshin do his famous "Oro?" in shock.
She nodded and laughed, "It's true. I said I wanted to marry that same day he asked me. I wanted to marry Aoshi before he could want to change his mind. So then, I said you guys would have to deal with the celebrations, and it happened right then and there, surprising the heck out of me!"
Misao and Kenshin shared a private laugh between the two of them before she turned to Kaoru Kamiya, her best friend, who was but a couple of steps away.
Misao limped her way over to her friend, who right then noticed Misao's condition, and Misao gripped her in a gentle hug before she could say anything to draw more attention to her injuries. Misao was quite self-conscious of her condition because she felt weak but did not admit how fragile she felt.
Misao blurted out, "Kaoru! I'm glad you came, are you surprised? I wanted to tell you about my happy news in person, so I only chose to tell you about the other things that happened on my way back from Tokyo, which we can talk about after the wedding. I want everything until after the wedding to only be about happy things, not dark and dangerous stuff quite yet. Hmm? Does that sound like a deal? Because I'm not giving you guys a choice, I will not say a thing until after the wedding. Although, I promise everyone, including me, is safe for the moment."
Kaoru nodded and finally spoke, "I'm so happy for you, Misao; you finally snagged the man of your dreams! How does it feel to be married first out of all us girls who never thought you might be the first?"
Misao laughs but keeps her voice low, even though knowing Kenshin can probably hear her words, "Oh, it feels great, but lately, I keep wondering when it is that I'm going to hear that Kenshin has proposed. Haha! I can't wait till I hear those words! At this point, I think even the brat might get married before he gets the balls to ask you out on a date!"
"Misao!" Kaoru whisper-hissed to the still giggling young woman. Misao had wanted Kenshin to hear her, so she didn't feel bad at how loud she may have been. But, she truly wanted him to catch the hint from her words. It was his turn now to let go of his past and accept the love coming his way abundantly from a certain tanuki-woman.
Before Misao could warn everyone not to touch her, someone swept her into a fierce hug akin to a bear's strength. Misao couldn't help but let a short scream escape through her lips at the searing pain where the wound in her back was pressed with incredible force by the ever oblivious one, Sanosuke Sagara.
In an instant, the rooster-headed man sets her down gently, and the next, a familiar arm roughly shoots out and pushes him back several feet before curling towards her and pulling her back into the strong chest of her fiance.
She turns in his arms and gazes up at him warmly while placing a calming hand on his bare and somewhat sweaty chest. He must have been training, oh how good he looks. Her right hand rested upon his muscular pec moved upwards to press on his cheek until he turned his face to the side and then gripped his chin so he would look down to where she gazed up at him lovingly.
Finally, she put her hand back to his chest, where she unconsciously began to soothingly pet his left pec muscle in a downwards motion while speaking softly, "I'm fine, anata. You know he's oblivious."
"Hey! I thought it was a prank to get us to come here as fast as we can!" an incredulous voice replies somewhat angrily.
Suddenly Sanosuke's ear was grabbed between two finely manicured fingernails and pinched, "Baka! She's so obviously injured! Did you see how every step down those stairs was painful for her? That's why Ken-san assisted her, like the true gentleman he is. If she were indeed pranking us to get us to come out here, the pretense would have ended when we showed up. Misao also would have already hugged us all to death in five seconds from our arrival at the gates. Speaking of injuries, move out of the way, you rooster-head." Megumi then proceeded to push the six-foot-tall wall of muscle out of her way before coming to a few steps from where Misao stood in her man's arms.
"It is lovely to see you are getting married to Aoshi-san, Misao, and I am truly happy for you both. However, as a doctor, I demand to see your injuries before any such wedding can occur. Judging from your state, you can barely walk, are pale and flushed, and have a fever. Worse enough, you probably haven't said anything about having a fever to anyone, have you?" Megumi's gaze was critical, and Misao winced at being called out in front of her soon-to-be husband.
Misao sighed before speaking, "No, I have not said anything. But you are not the only woman medically trained; I am taking the proper medicines for fevers and pain. Don't look so distrustfully at me; I assure you I have learned medicine since childhood. For the ten years that Aoshi was gone, I had been trained in not just ninjutsu and swordplay but healing and pharmaceuticals because the others felt I would need it. I had to contribute to the clan if I wanted to be as respected as my birthright demands. I had to find my place in this clan as the main healer. That's why I couldn't contribute much fighting prowess to the incident two years ago against Shishio and his men. I had not studied my father's journals nor Aoshi-sama's yet."
Megumi nodded but stubbornly still demanded to see Misao's injuries, to which Misao relented.
Aoshi, who had tensed in her arms at hearing she was feverish, finally relaxed with Misao promising to let Megumi see to her.
After being ignored for too long, in his opinion, Yahiko finally butted in before getting hit on the head for his next words, "How'd you get hurt, weasel? Did you finally pick a fight with someone too big? It wouldn't surprise me...Hahahaha…."
Kaoru pulls her fist back to a relaxed position at her side before saying, "I'm sure Misao's injuries are not from picking a fight but rather something far more serious than such behavior as picking fights. She has already told me she doesn't want to talk about what happened until after the wedding, so, no asking!"
Kaoru then turned to Misao with an apology that was practically written on her face and then said, "Sorry, he's just mad that his girlfriend, Tsubame-chan, and her adoptive mother, Tae-san, couldn't make it. They both had thought it was some dangerous mission we were being recruited for and didn't want to get in the way."
"Hey!" Yahiko shouted at getting exposed for liking Tsubame, even though every single one of us, yes, including the rooster, would have been able to spot that a mile away.
Kaoru, after glaring at Yahiko for so rudely interrupting her, continued her speech with, "Although funnily enough, they did think something was weird about you asking them to come along too when it was 'supposedly dangerous.' But, if you had only written them a separate letter swearing them to secrecy, none of us would be the wiser at them coming along with us. Well, maybe Kenshin might have thought something weird, but I guarantee you he did not see this one coming! Hahaha!"
A throat clearing silenced Kaoru's laughter and everyone else in the courtyard of the Aoiya, "Thank you all for coming; Misao has been anxious while awaiting your arrival for the two days since I'd proposed. First, however, we should go inside. Misao tires easily."
Misao snaps her eyes upwards to glare at the man who just spoke as if she was disabled and couldn't stand outside on a cloudy day without collapsing. But, soon after shooting him the death stare, she softened her look as soon as he turned his attention to her and gazed at her oh-so lovingly.
Misao sighs happily before taking the arm her Aoshi-sama held out for her to lean on. She was still rather tired from her wounds and being too excited since the proposal. She had stayed up late every night because she could not wait for her friends to arrive and tell them the happy news.
The entire Kenshin-gumi just stood in shock at how intimate the infamously named "icicle," Aoshi Shinomori, was with Misao when he began leading her up the steps and into the inn.
Yahiko snorts while telling Sanosuke beside him, "So the icicle does have feelings… and for the weasel of all people! Hahaha!"
Yahiko only enjoyed a one-breath laugh before a kunai whizzed above his head at just the right height to create a canyon-like part in the center of his hair.
It was all so fast that none could tell who threw the kunai; it was Misao, or it was Aoshi.
Now, everyone knew that Yahiko would desperately need that haircut he had been pushing off for two long years. So the other members of the Kenshin-gumi began to laugh in earnest at Yahiko's expense.
Yahiko's demands of knowing what was so funny renewed their laughter. It was then that he felt a breeze on the top of his head, and he yelled in despair while feeling the damage done to his hair.
Kenshin had to smile at the couple laughing together softly and quite impressed with how fast Aoshi had thrown that kunai. The Oniwaban's ex-leader had been held back before by his insurmountable rage at the deaths of his comrades. However, now that Aoshi is currently in his right frame of mind for a battle, Kenshin could not tell who would win between the two of them should the two ever cross swords once more.
Before he followed the others inside the inn, Kenshin thought, Aoshi-san surely has a pure smile in his heart now that he's forgiven himself for the pain he's previously caused Misao-dono and the others.
-End of Chapter 7: Wedding Reunions: -
See, I told you I would post this chapter real soon! I am glad I got this much in tonight, and I hope to see you all soon with another couple of chapters. :D
Many Thanks,
-ItachiMusume1
- End of Chapter 7: Author's Note 2: -