Hello all! I know it's been quite a while since I did anything with this story. Heck, I even planned for this to be the last chapter, but then I wrote it and it wasn't last chapter material. I'm going to try to go ahead and write the last chapter (or two) that it will take to wrap this up so that I can finally call it complete. Thanks to any and all who have stuck with me this long and I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think. I'm not overly sure if I even like how this went, but I believe someone asked for me to put in how things ended up with Megumi & Sano and Kaoru & Kenshin. I put that in, but I don't know how I like what it ended up as. So, tell me if you think I should carry on with it from here or go back and do something different. Enjoy! 8.14.07

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Misao asked as she led Aoshi back into her apartment. "I would totally understand…"

"Misao, I agreed to come. I would not have if I did not want to go with you this evening," Aoshi said, stopping her from trying to let him out of the evening for the fifth time.

"Okay. Give me fifteen minutes to get ready. The tv's over…"

"I know," Aoshi said, again cutting Misao off. "It has not been that long since I was here."

"Fifteen minutes. Promise," she told him, standing on tiptoe to kiss him before hurrying out of the room.

Aoshi moved to the couch and sat down to watch a few minutes of television while he waited on his 'date' to get ready. Precisely fifteen minutes later, Misao emerged from her bedroom in a form-fitting wrap dress in a deep jade color. A silver heart on a chain was displayed in the deep v-neck of her dress and silver heeled sandals adorned her feet.

Aoshi flicked off the tv and stood as she approached. "You look nice," he complimented.

"Not one for words tonight, huh?" Misao teased him.

"Ha, ha," he replied sarcastically.

"Well, you look nice too," she told him. Aoshi, who had dressed earlier when they had stopped by his place, was wearing a pair of black pinstripe dress pants and a white button-down shirt. "Oh, crap," she exclaimed when she caught sight of the clock behind Aoshi. "We need to get going, or we're going to be late!"

Heading to the door, Misao quickly moved her things into her black clutch and allowed Aoshi to help her into a black cardigan sweater. They exited the apartment hand-in-hand and headed to hail a cab.

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"Misao!" Tokio called as she and Aoshi entered the restaurant. "Over here!"

Glancing up at Aoshi, Misao took his hand and led him over to her family. "Tokio. Wolf. Hello, Aunt Rei."

"Misao, darling, how've you been? You look amazing. Please, sit. And who might you be young man?"

"I've been great, Aunt Rei. This is Aoshi," Misao said, introducing the two.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Aoshi greeted. "Saitoh, nice to see you again."

"You as well, Shinomori," Saitoh replied, looking rather unhappy to have to say so. "My wife, Tokio."

"It's nice to meet you, Tokio-san."

"You as well, Aoshi-san. I've heard much about you."

All five of them sat down at the table and waited for the waitress to appear.

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"So, what did you think?" Misao questioned as she left the restaurant with Aoshi.

"Your aunt is an interesting woman; so is your cousin. Saitoh will always be Saitoh, of course," Aoshi commented.

"You put that rather kindly. Saitoh's an ass and I know it as well as you do. Tokio can be odd, but I guess she has to be to put up with him as a husband."

"Aa," he murmured. After a short pause as they strolled down the street holding hands, Aoshi pointed to a small coffee shop as he brought Misao to a stop and asked, "Are you in a hurry to get home or would you like to stop for a while?"

"That sounds wonderful," she replied, smiling up at him.

Smiling back, Aoshi gave in to an uncharacteristic impulse and kissed Misao's forehead. "Come," he stated.

They entered the coffee shop, both surprised to see Megumi and Kaoru. "Aren't those your friends from the other night?" Aoshi questioned Misao as they stood in line to order.

"Yeah. That's Megumi on the left with her boyfriend, Sano. The other two are Kaoru and her boyfriend, Kenshin. I went to the club with Megumi and Kaoru. They saw the boys at the club and basically abandoned me."

"Lucky for me."

"Yes, lucky for you, and for me," she agreed, smiling at him.

Aoshi wrapped his arms around Misao from where he stood behind her as they moved forward and they placed their orders. They waited patiently to the side and received their orders. They then moved over to say hello to Misao's friends.

"Hey, guys!" Misao greeted as she walked up with Aoshi.

"Weasal," Sanosuke greeted in return as the others nodded their own greetings.

"This is Aoshi," she introduced. "How was your night out the other evening?"

"Oh, it was interesting," Kaoru told her, Megumi nodding her agreement. "I'm gonna run to the bathroom real quickly. Misao? Megumi?"

The two quickly headed to the bathroom while Misao rolled her eyes at Aoshi before following.

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"So?" Misao asked as she entered the bathroom.

"It was horrible!" Megumi told her. "They lied to us and we let them get away with it, playing the forgiving girlfriends."

"Why?"

"Because, we didn't know what else to do!" Kaoru cut in. "It's not like they were cheating. They were just, not where they told us they would be."

"Which is basically lying to us," Megumi pointed out.

"I guess you need to decide then if the innocence of the act counteracts the fact that they lied to you," Misao told them. "But, you're on your own to determine that. Honestly, girls, I don't really want to help you with this. Yet, again, you abandoned me because of them. And now, you're keeping me from my date. Why does it seem that I keep getting screwed over here?" Breathing hard after her rant, Misao shook her head and added. "I don't really want to talk about it now. If you do, you can make plans with me later if you're able to separate yourselves from your boyfriends long enough. And I don't mean last minute, come drag me out of bed and to a club plans. You know my number." With that, Misao turned and left.

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"Hey, you mind if we get out of here?" Misao asked Aoshi as she slipped up beside him and under his arm.

With his arm wrapped securely around Misao's shoulders, Aoshi nodded and directed her towards the door. "It was nice to meet both of you," he told Sano and Kenshin.

After they exited and had walked a little ways, Aoshi asked, "What happened?"

"They wanted me to solve their problems for them. Me and my opinion only seem to matter when it benefits them. I got sick of it and told them to figure it out on their own. If they wanted to talk to me about all of it later, they knew my number."

"I'm sorry," he told her.

"It's not your fault. Besides, I have an evening ahead with my wonderful boyfriend. Why should I let this ruin it?"

"And what would you like to do with your boyfriend?"

"How about a movie? I know the perfect place. It's an old theatre with a bunch of leather couches in place of the seats. You can bring your own food and drinks in. And they show quite a collection of movies. I think tonight is black and white movies, but I'm not sure which one."

"Sounds good to me," Aoshi told her. "Where to?"