Misao

Did that actually happen?! That happened! Holy shit! Maybe my dreams are coming true! My fantasies are coming to life! She glanced quickly at Aoshi, who was reading, then looked quickly away.

Just wham and he's over top of me! And his shirt's all unbuttoned sleeves are rolled up! And he's breathing really hard. All he needed to say was, 'Misao I have loved you forever' and we're good. But no.

No. He just has to spoil it by saying, 'I checked the roof.' Are you kidding me, Aoshi-sama? Especially with such a deadpan expression! That's the least sexy thing you could have said at that moment! Well, it was better than I could have hoped for. Although I do rather feel sorry for him. Now he knows I'm constantly slobbering over him in my mind. Well maybe not that far. But he can definitely feel something weird about me.

She put a hand to her forehead. Ah. And now there's gonna be a bit of sexual tension. But it'll pass. We'll kill Heishin and go home. And things will go back to being like usual – and I'll just kind of dream of the one time Aoshi-sama looked like he was gonna make out with me but-actually-he-was-slipping-in-through-the-train-window-and-accidentally-landed-on-me. Misao sighed, drawing her knees up to her chest and casting another furtive glance at Aoshi.

And he was looking straight at her, an enigmatic expression in his ice-blue eyes. "I…-" they both started. "…Never mind." They both said at the same time. Then Misao stood up. "They're gonna serve dinner in the dining car soon." She said with a grin. "I'm gonna get changed."

Aoshi nodded wordlessly and stepped outside leaning against the door. Misao breathed a sigh and opened her suitcase. After a minute's deliberation, she chose the red dress. Digging further in the bag, she found her jewelry box and put on a necklace with small black beads. As she slipped on her heels, she tapped the door. "I'm done! You can come back, Aoshi-sama."

He stepped in and glanced at her, then back at his book. Then he blinked, slowly closed the book and looked back at Misao.

"How do I look?" Misao laughed and gave a twirl, undoing her hair from its habitual braid and letting her hair cascade in waves around her shoulders.

"…Good." He said it very quietly.

Misao glanced up at him and saw that he had a hand over his face. "Are you alright, Aoshi-sama? Do you have a headache or something? We don't have to go to dinner if you don't want. I'll go ask the staff for some headache medicine!"

Aoshi looked at her. Maybe it was a trick of the light, something about the setting sun through the window of the train and the shadow of hills and posts, but she could've sworn he smiled at her tiredly. "I am fine. Let's go."

"O-okay!"

The dining car was not crowded. In fact, there were very few people taking their dinner there. Wu Heishin sat in the corner, eating pasta, two bodyguards on both sides of his chair and two sitting at the table on either side of him. "They look like they're posing for a group photo." Misao whispered to Aoshi. He looked vaguely amused.

Other occupants of the dining car included the red-haired man's wife and children, but no sign of the man himself. There was a sophisticated-looking woman with a black cigarette holder at a table for two. A raucous man with spikily messy hair sat with her. In the corner, a young man sat with a woman who had her back to Misao, both of them reading the menu very intently. When Misao glanced at him, he looked up immediately and smiled sweetly. Misao smiled back and noticed that he had very pretty sky-blue eyes. There was a man with blond hair that seemed to defy gravity and stick straight up in the air like a broom. There was a man with angrily narrowed eyes and slicked back hair leaning against the wall by the door and smoking like a factory. He glared at everyone in turn as they walked though the door. For some reason, he looked vaguely familiar to Misao, but she couldn't think of where she could've seen him before.

"Ah, Misao-dono! We meet again!" Misao turned around. The red-haired man from earlier smiled at her.

She grinned back. "Oh, hello Mr. Himura! You having a nice trip so far?"

"Oh yes, indeed we are! Kenji has always loved trains…" he trailed off, just as Misao felt Aoshi's heavy hand on her shoulder.

At first it was hard to tell the voice came from Aoshi. "Battousai." He growled, his hand going inside his jacket, as if to reach for his gun.

"Just Himura Kenshin now, actually." Said Kenshin pleasantly but with an edge to his voice. "The Battousai… Died ten years ago."

"…And the scar?" asked Aoshi.

Kenshin smiled slightly, his hand going up to his left cheek. "Makeup. It's wonderful what it can do, isn't it?"

Misao raised an eyebrow. "You guys know each other?"

Aoshi's grip on her shoulder tightened. Kenshin's smile decreased. "It was a long time ago, indeed it was." He said calmly. "This one… Had some dealings with the Oniwabanshu in the distant past." Aoshi's hold tightened further.

"Aoshi-sama…" she said evenly and very quietly, out of the corner of her mouth. "That kind of hurts."

"I apologize." He let go, his hand still inside his jacket, his jaw clenched tightly.

She looked at him, putting her hand on his arm, speaking very quietly. "Please do not start a shoot-out in the middle of the dining car, Aoshi-sama. We do not want to attract undue attention to ourselves, right? I dunno about history between you and Himura, but that shouldn't mess with our plans."

Aoshi took a deep breath. "Yes."

Kenshin shrugged, smiling a little. "Truly, this one poses no threat to you here. I assume you're here on business and not just on a pleasure trip?" His eyes flicked to Heishin for a split second. "If you two like, let us have dinner together, no?"

Misao smiled. "Thanks, Mr. Himura!" Aoshi nodded.

They sat at the table with Himura Kaoru – Kenshin's wife, Himura Kenji – the younger son who looked almost exactly like Kenshin. The older boy introduced himself as Myojin Yahiko, then quickly corrected it to 'Himura Yahiko at this point, I guess'. At that, Kenshin beamed and Kaoru looked very emotional.

Misao chatted with Kenji, Kaoru and Kenshin, while Yahiko sat like a sullen teenager, eating everything in sight. Aoshi was quiet, but he seemed to have loosened up a little after Kenji had whacked Kenshin in the nose with a spoon and everyone had laughed. Misao looked at him and let out the breath she had been unconsciously holding. I dunno who Himura used to be, but he seems like a very kind family-man kind of person. He adopted one kid, has another and he seems happily married. I don't even see him packing any heat.

After they had finished dinner, Aoshi got up, saying he was tired and would go read in the cabin and he hoped they would excuse his rudeness. He lightly tapped her shoulder four times as he went by, which meant, I'm going to go check it out – be back soon, 'it' in this case probably being Heishin's room. Misao nodded imperceptibly.

After he had left, Kaoru poured Misao a glass of sparkling water. "Pardon me for asking something so rude…" she said. "But are you and Aoshi-san married?"

Misao's eyes widened and she choked, beginning to cough, her face bright red to match her dress. Yahiko looked up from his third plate of steak. "I think we should take that as a no." he said with his mouth full. "Way to go, Kaoru."

"You, shut up." Muttered Kaoru at Yahiko, who made a face. Looking at Misao, Kaoru looked embarrassed. "I'm really sorry!"

Putting a hand over her chest in an effort to get her breath back, Misao laughed a little. "No such thing, Kaoru-san." She said. "Aoshi-sama's my… Boss, really. We kind of grew up together as well."

Kenji grinned. "Well, Misao-neechan, since you really lo-ove Aoshi-niichan, you should hurry up and get married and have a kid so I can have someone to play with on this bo-oring trip!"

This time everyone choked.

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Misao left the table an hour later, smiling and excusing herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kenshin looking intently at the man smoking by the door, and she was sure that he had nodded. She made a note of it and wondered whether she should tell Aoshi yet, or if he would whip out his gun just like that. As she exited, glancing at the smoking man very casually – as if she was just looking around the room, her eyes just skipping over him – but he caught her glance and smirked.

She pretended as if she hadn't noticed and continued to look around.

As she walked by, he raised an eyebrow and blew out a puff of smoke. "Careful, Weasel kid." He said quietly, his lips barely moving. "A much bigger predator has his eye on Heishin." His narrow amber eyes seemed to glow. "Tell Shinomori that."

She swung around, gasping, but the door had already swung closed. Misao picked up her pace and almost ran down the hall. As she crossed between carriages, she stopped, sensing something off. Poking her head in, she saw Aoshi speaking with one of the 'four gods'. How is that? Weren't they all in the dining car just now?

Did he get caught? He couldn't've! Straining her ears, she tried to make out their conversation. Is that Chinese?! Aoshi-sama can speak Chinese?! She craned her neck further around the corner, and Aoshi caught her gaze over the large man's shoulder. He blinked once, bringing his arms down to hang loosely by his sides, meaning, It's fine. Wait.

Misao grinned in answer – and when they were done speaking, she ran over to Aoshi. "How'd it go?" she asked when they were inside.

Aoshi looked smug (about as smug as he could while not moving any of his facial muscles) and nodded. "Well." He said. "That went very well." He took off his jacket and sat down on his seat. "Heishin will see us tomorrow."

"Awesome!" Misao's grin widened and she swung her legs excitedly. As if by the way she asked him something. "Hey, Aoshi-sama?" she said, turning her back to him and beginning to braid her hair.

"Yes?"

She paused, then continued. "You know the guy by the door? The chain-smoker with bangs like antenna and eyes like a psychopath?"

Aoshi sounded vaguely amused by the description. "What about him?"

"He… Doesn't look weirdly familiar to you?" she turned around, tying a ribbon around the end of her braid. "I think I know him from somewhere… Or he looks like someone I know." Well, there's that and the fact that he, a) called me by a nickname that only very few people know - and b) knew that Aoshi-sama and I were after Heishin.

"Not really, although… I understand what you mean." Aoshi said. "When we get to New York, I'll have someone look him up."

Misao nodded, a little bit relieved. Then another thought came to her. Oh. It'll be time to go to sleep soon. A mischievous grin spread across her face and she pulled down the shade over the window. "Aoshi-sama, I'm gonna get changed into my nightgown now, so could you please turn your back?"

Aoshi nodded, turning his back and picking up a book from his suitcase.

Slipping out of her red dress and standing in her slip, Misao dug around in her suitcase for the nightgown. She got it on, surprised by how tight it was over her chest since the last time she had worn it (three years ago). With a snap, she divested herself of her garter and stretched out on the fold-out bed, leaving her stockings on. "You can turn 'round now, Aoshi-sama." She said, yawning.

To her disappointment, he didn't glance at her, just settled back to his previous position, his gaze fixed on the book. After a while, he reached out and took a cigarette, not lighting it. Misao decided it was attack time. She took a cigarette out of her pack and smirked around it, lighting it. Slipping her heels back on as she got off her bed, she walked up to him. "Need a light, Aoshi-sama?" she asked.

"If you would be so kind." He said, his gaze steadfastly on the book. "I think the matches are in your bag."

She grinned. "Who needs matches?" leaning closer, so that he was forced to look up from the book, she smiled and touched the tip of her cigarette to his until his lit. She drew back with a grin.

Aoshi blinked and cleared his throat. "How efficient." He said, a little too loudly.

Misao pulled a pack of cards out and began to shuffle them. "Wanna play, Aoshi-sama?"

He set aside his book. "Why not."

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Misao had lost every game of cards out of five and she saw how Aoshi had watched her growing annoyance with quiet amusement. Finally she had dozed off, laying on her stomach, tightly holding her hand of cards.

Aoshi threw down his final card, the ace of hearts, and leaned back, smiling a little. Misao swam back into relative awake-ness when a blanket was folded over her. She kept her eyes closed and felt a gentle hand smoothing her hair away from her face. At this, her breath caught and her eyelids fluttered open. She saw for a moment an enigmatic expression on his face, something overpowering and gentle and strange that she had never seen before – mixed with so much sadness.

When he noticed her eyes open he drew back, his face returning to its usual blank state. "Go to back to sleep." He said quietly. "We're going to be rather busy tomorrow." With a slight nod, he dimmed the lights and settled back into his seat, beginning to read.

Misao shut her eyes and had no trouble sinking back into sleep, a slight smile on her face. This is probably more complicated… But I just really like how his hand is so warm and how he's so nice, despite what he acts like around other people. If Aoshi-sama is nearby, of course I can fall asleep just like that, with no worries. If Aoshi-sama is here, there's nothing to even worry about!

If she had kept her eyes open for just a little longer, Misao would've seen how white his knuckles were as he clutched the book, looking at the pages but not seeing them.