Disclaimer: We do not own RK.
Of Vampires and other creatures
So on her birthday they left their small cottage and traveled to a distant area.
Most people in the mountain not wanting to "update" their life style decided to keep their dirt roads and travel by horse drawn carriage. Most cars decided not to pass thru there do the all the dust.
Misao fidgeted in her all white kimono, she knew that now a day's barely anyone whore them, she had on white socks and her white sandals, her hair had been picked up in a bun and decorated with a small golden headpiece. One long golden stick dangling to the side.
"Please stop fidgeting in your kimono Misao, its tradition, so get used to it" Kaasan said fixing Misao's head piece has it had moved while she was fidgeting.
"But Kaasan! This kimono is too big!" Misao heard her brothers chuckling, she pouted slightly.
"Honey you are about to grow, you'll fit into it once the ceremony is done" Her Kaasan simply replied. Misao began to mumble incoherent. She looked at what they were all wearing, old yukatas. Misao looked at her Kaasan, she was beautiful in her dark yellow kimono, her hair loose until the end which was tied simply with a ribbon and dangling to the side of her left shoulder.
"We have arrived" Uncle Battōsai said from outside. Misao got off the carriage to see an old Japanese temple, way up with many stairs. There were many little old style houses in front of the large stair case. The whole area looked old and rusty, suddenly a gush of strong wind began to blow, Misao had to close her eyes, and when she reopened them, everything was clean, as if brand new. They walked silent up the long stairs, and when they reached the top there stood two lines of adults, wearing tradition yukatas. They bowed at the family, and the family bowed back, and began walking towards the temple.
Misao stared at the men on either side. This of course wasn't the first time she with me here, but it had been so long since she was last here that she had just about forgotten the ritual.
Misao began to walk towards the entrance and realized she was walking alone; she turned around and saw her family at the end of the line of men.
"You can do it sweetie, don't b afraid" Kaasan reassured Misao, all of them sending supportive smiles.
"Remember Misao state what you want clearly and straight to the point" Soujiro encouraged his sister.
Of course as a baby one had to be taken by either parent, but after a certain age a young vampire need only take him or herself inside. She continued to walk towards the sliding doors to enter the temple. Once she opened it she saw it was shrouded in darkness, she stepped in and the door closed on its own.
Misao heard a voice. "Step forward child. Please do tell me… why does the everlasting child Misao wish to be here?"
"I want to begin to grow up, each year, and one year older. As the humans do. This is my one and only desire, and I am very sure of it" Misao said with her little head held up high.
Little candles surrounded Misao and two more a short ways in front of her, there sitting down stood an old vampire, brewing a mixture and making humming sounds. Soon the humming grew louder, Misao could tell that there were many other vampires inside.
"Sit" and she sat on her knees and put her hands on her legs. Has the chanting began Misao was sweating a little; suddenly she felt a pain in her chest. She grunted a little at the pain, but stayed still. The old man picked up the brew and walked in front of her, sitting down before her with his legs crossed, he chanted and painted her forehead with a symbol she could not see.
"Drink child, and grow" he handed her the brew; she took it and bowed her head and drank as the chants grew louder. It tasted horrible, she finished it in two gulps, once she was done she handed it back to him, nearly dropping it at the pain she felt. Once the cup was removed from her hands she hugged herself, how horrible this pain.
"You have stayed so long in that body that this change will be the most difficult, I assure you that in the upcoming years it will hurt less and less, as your body will begin to mature and withstand the pain" the old man explained. "Remember we are clock, and we can only stay still or tick forward, but never backwards, once you've grown, grown you shall stay"
Misao felt immense pain everywhere but she felt as her body began to stretch a little. The chanting stopped and Misao felt her pain ease away, she slowly sat up and the old man was smiling at her.
"Happy 7th birthday Misao" and they all applauded. "Soon everyone will hear of this" he nodded, Misao bowed her head low in respect, got up and walked with her head down, she opened the door and closed it softly behind her, she saw it was dark already, she looked up at the star filled sky.
'Mmmm I can barely see the stars….ever since electricity, even all the way out here' Misao walked down the long stair case, she stopped somewhere in the middle and looked down at her body, 'stupid kimono' it basically was still too big for her. She sighed in defeat and continued to walk further down to the final steps, everything was still, no movement, she looked around hoping to see her family and soon she could faintly hear them chatting away happily in a restaurant up ahead.
Her brother Soujiro immediately sensed her presence, and opened the shoji door greeting his beloved twin with his smile. "There's my forever little sister!" He walked out and hugged her tightly. "I was beginning to think you'd never do the leap. Mmm I wonder what changed your mind?" he spoke softly in her ear, she only hugged him tighter. "Okay, okay, come one everyone is waiting to see you" and he ushered her into the restaurant, where she was greeted with many hugs and kisses from everyone, and one tight hug from her Otousan.
She excused herself to go to the little girl's room and just stared at her reflection, she did look a little older, but she was basically the same. Oh well, she hoped to grow a little taller next year. 'I can't wait to see Aoshi' Misao blushed at her thoughts; she turned the faucet on and splashed some water on her face, she dried off and walked back out to join her family. Boy was she hungry.
They ate and drank, of course no alcohol for ages 10,000 thousand year old and under said Hiko as he drank it all up, barely giving any to Battōsai. Misao saw an old man with his little grandchildren, he was juggling two little balls filled with sand, then to Misao's amazement another little ball was added, and another, and another. With ease he juggled 5 little balls and sang a little tune, fascinated Misao scooted next to the man, and he started again with only two to show Misao how it was done.
A few failed attempts later, the old man smiled sweetly at Misao.
"It takes great concentration, and good memory skills, remembering where your hands ought to be, and where the ball should land…if you threw it correctly that is, try again" by the time the party was at an end, Misao could juggle 3 balls expertly. "See, with concentration and dedication, anything is possible" the children giggled up at Misao, and she giggled back. She returned the balls to the old man and bowed her thanks for the lesson.
He nodded and walked out of the restaurant with his grandchildren waving goodbye to Misao.
"Time for dessert!" Soujiro said handing Misao vanilla pudding with chocolate sauce dripping on top
"Wow! It...it..it…it's huge!" Misao exclaimed with surprise, eyes wide open, and mouth too at seeing such a large pudding that was about the size of her head.
"It's…." Shinta said standing up, bowing his head he "whispered" to his brother "drum roll please" (Drum roll sound) both stood tall, interlocking one arm around each other and the other pointing upwards, they exclaimed loudly, "It's Giga Pudding!" (A/N: Never heard of it? Link to video bellow. It won't disappoint)
Misao stared in amazement how it seemed that a tsunami had formed behind her brothers, while the sun shined brightly behind them; wind had picked up and moved their long red hairs with it, oh how she loved them. Soujiro was simply and calming smiling at the pudding, waiting to dig his chompers into that sweet pudding, he knew Giga was calling out to him, but it was his gift to his twin sister, and she should bite it first…unless she kept him waiting too much.
"Misao-Chan if you don't hurry up and eat it… I'll gobble it all up" he smiled sweetly at her, Misao and the others turned to Soujiro, as he already had the pudding in his hands, "And I won't share" his eyes turned to stars as he drooled over the pudding.
"Nooo!" Both Kenshin and Shinta jumped towards Soujiro, wanting a piece of that pudding as well. Misao jumped on them both and used them as a catapult to reach her twin faster, ignoring the "cheater!" and "orororo!" that could be heard behind her, just as she was about to tackle him, the pudding was thrust in front of her face, and she stopped just in time, but a little shove from Shinta and Kenshin made her nose crash into the pudding.
"Oh shit!" Shinta said, and was smacked over the head with a sandal from his father.
"Misao-Chan! Are you okay!?" Kenshin asked placing his hands on both her shoulders; he was still standing behind her, but saw her head nodding.
"I wouldn't dare take a bite before you, today is your day" Soujiro said smiling at her, he lifted his hand to clean the tip of her nose from the pudding wobbling majestically before her. He stared down at her, she was his adoration, and he would do anything to protect her, to keep her smiling always as she has for all these thousands of years.
Misao felt movement behind her and soon she felt to pairs of lips kissing her two cheeks at the same time, and being hugged by both red heads.
"Happy Birthday Misao" they both said in unison. Their bonds were strong and only growing stronger.
Their parents watched happily, a devious thought rushed past Okon's mind and she began to giggle to herself.
"What are you thinking about?" Hiko watched his wife with a wary eye; it was never a good sign when she giggled to herself.
"Oh nothing much Anata" she giggled again and placed a hand on her lips. "Wouldn't it be wonderful to unite our family's ne?" she giggled some more, her cheeks were a light shade of pink.
Hiko nearly choked on his sake and Battōsai got a strawberry stuck in his throat, and began to choke. After Hiko regained his composure he slapped Battōsai on the middle of his back, the strawberry flying out, he gasped for hair, his lungs greedily taking it all in.
"You want our daughter to marry one of the gingers?" Hiko said ignoring the look Battōsai gave him, "They have no soul" He simply stated taking more Sake.
"Oro!? Hey! That's not true….You have no soul either!" Battōsai said clenching his fist.
Okon smiled at the scene before her, her Anata drinking his sake while Battōsai waved his hands at him to take back what he said, of course her dear ignoring him. They were quite comical, but the best of friends.
"What do you think Battōsai?" she said once she had enough of their little quarrel. "Don't you think that my little Misao would make a darling daughter in law for one of your boys?" Battōsai regained his composure and looked at the kids; they had calmed down and were wiggling the giga pudding, playing with heir food as they loved to do.
Knowing that he had to be careful with his next choice of words, but not really knowing what to say, he began to sweat. Of course he wouldn't mind having little Misao has a daughter in law, but they kids have spent so many years together as kids, not as adults, they saw each other has brothers and sister, would they be able to make the change accordingly? He sighed in defeat; he would just come out and say it.
"Would it really be wise?" He began to say, grabbing their attention fully. "They've been together for hundreds of years, they relationship is that of brothers and sister, surely I don't think they would like the idea of marrying a brother, that I don't" he finished.
"But in the old days this used to be the norm. We are people of tradition are we not?" Okon pressed forward. She really wanted Misao to be well protected for the rest of her life, even if she became an excellent fighter, she wanted someone else to always look after her, apart from her brother of course.
"Anata" Hiko spoke softly "I understand your reasoning. And if it would truly please you, I as well believe that either Kenshin or Shinta would be excellent suitors for Misao. They are fine boys, and will grow into fine young men" Hiko sipped from his sake, missing the happy touched smile on his oldest friends face.
"But who would suit Misao best?" Battōsai thought out loud, receiving loud squeal and a big hug from Okon and a kiss on the cheek. This had startled the children and they stopped giggling the pudding to stare at their parents.
"What's up?" they all asked at the same time. Their parents sweat dropped, knowing that now was not the right time to tell the children the decision. They each straightened up and smiled their own way at the kids.
"Oh nothing my darlings, now please stop playing with the pudding and eat it already" Okon smiled at them and waved them off. The kids shrugged and return their attention to Giga has it wiggled majestically at them, waiting for them to gobble it up.
"Next weekend I'm taking the boys hiking. I'll tell them there" Battōsai calmly said. Okon and Hiko nodded in agreement. Silently watching the kids play and hug each other merrily.
"Will it always be this happy and filled with so much laughter?" Okon asked softly.
"No" Hiko and Battōsai both said at the same time, there was no point ignoring that one fact. This is what happens with being a Vampire, moments like these, never tend to last.
Finally the day Misao had long awaited for, his birthday.
Misao had recently learned to juggle 4 little bouncy balls, and she loved it. After the party Misao was gifted with 6 bouncy balls from her twin Soujiro, and she played with them every day. She wanted to teach Aoshi, so that was his gift this year, to practice and show her his skills the next year.
Author's Note: We were planning on continuing but we gotta hand over the computer to our mom now. So hope you enjoyed.
Comment with every feeling you have on the story, thank you.
GIGA PUDDING COMMERCIAL: watch?v=7LKHpM1UeDA