Hi all! First off, make sure you reread the end of the previous chapter. It's been altered so that I could take the story in a different direction. This is the second to last chapter and the next one should be an epilogue, dealing with dinner with her aunt and a wrap up of what happened with Kaoru, Megumi, Kenshin, and Sanosuke. Mostly this chapter is filler to get me to the epilogue. So, let me know what you think and any suggestions to make this chapter better would be much appreciated. Thanks all. 5/24/07
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Panting hard, Misao finished her last set of kicks and stopped. She surveyed the room, observing the many weapons along the walls that she had used. Sighing, she made quick work of replacing the weapons on the walls before grabbing a small towel from her bag and heading inside the house.
The French double doors were wide open and Misao entered through them. She placed her bag by the door with her shoes and followed the soft musical strands she could hear floating into the room.
Aoshi stirred the simmering sauce, bringing the wooden spoon to his lips to taste it. He closed his eyes, savoring the rich tastes on his tongue. "Perfect," he murmured, moving to stir the pasta boiling beside the sauce.
"Oh, perfect is it?" Misao teased from behind him. "Why am I not overly surprised to hear that?"
"Yes, perfect. And you tell me," Aoshi responded.
"Mmm…" Misao said, moving to stand behind Aoshi with her arms wrapped around his waist. "How soon are you planning on feeding me?"
"Five minutes. Would you mind setting the places at the island? Everything is sitting on the counter," Aoshi told her, motioning towards the aforementioned place settngs.
Misao smoothly moved from behind Aoshi to set their places as he brought the food to the table. Together the two ate in relative silence.
The two sat together in the living room, watching another movie with Misao snuggled into Aoshi's side. As the movie ended, Aoshi stood, picking Misao up as he did so. He carried her to a room upstairs while she slept. Moving inside the room, he pulled back the covers and deposited her in the bed
"Wait, Aoshi," she said, waking up enough to grab his hand as he began to walk away, "Stay. Please?"
"I'll be right back," he assured her.
Less than five minutes later, he returned in a pair of pajama bottoms and crawled into bed with Misao. Spooning up behind her, Aoshi wrapped an arm around Misao's waist and settled in for the night.
Sleepily, Misao questioned Aoshi, "When are we heading back?"
"Tomorrow, maybe after lunch. Now, get some sleep. Goodnight, Misao."
"Mmm…" she replied, already close to sleep.