Author's Note:
I apologize for the very long time it took to update as I was struggling with how I wrote the previous chapters, so here I am on 8/2/2023, editing this chapter.
As always, I do not own any of the original Rurouni Kenshin characters or plot lines; I am just fancifully adding to the story there.
End of Author's Note:
Misao's POV:
- Flashback: -
Last night, if getting under the covers with her meant what she thought it did, then he was declaring to her where she now stood in his life. Essentially, he was beginning a new chapter, and she was a major component of that 'new chapter.'
- End of Flashback: -
The contentedness Misao felt at laying in her Aoshi-sama's arms was like a healing balm for the wounds his betrayal and coldness had caused her to feel the past twelve years. The peace his arms brought her lulled her back to sleep.
Sadly, the dreams that followed were not as peaceful as her reality.
Flashbacks of the war with Shishio in Kyoto and all the events surrounding it plagued Misao's mind.
Words…like haunting echoes…whispered to her, "You're a waste of space and in the way! I never want to see your face before me again."
Misao, in her dream, did not take her eyes off her beloved-yet-mad Okashira, "Aoshi-sama! What have you done? Okina wants you back…as we all do. Why are you doing this? This mad persona of yours isn't you! Ah!"
He had stabbed her through the stomach with his Kodachi blade. Blood spurted from her mouth, and she gasped, "Aoshi…Why?"
She closed her eyes to the monstrous look that did not match the person she had once known and felt his blade pierce her heart as he whispered, "You are nothing."
Slowly, Misao woke to Aoshi's room in her view once more.
Tears silently flowed from her eyes as she closed them in an effort to center herself and remind herself that Aoshi had more than made up for almost killing her adoptive grandfather, and her mind had made up most of what Aoshi had said in the dream.
A hand reached up, seemingly out of nowhere, and before she could stop herself, she knocked away the hand and grabbed the offending arm with her left hand, and her right propelled her off the floor and onto the offender, who tried to touch her and quickly grabbed a kunai and held it to his throat.
He had not resisted her movements and stilled underneath her fearful yet aggressive body so as to seem unthreatening until Misao remembered her surroundings and the events of the night prior. His other hand reached up and stroked her lower back as she rested atop him while slowly relaxing.
Misao mumbled an apology and let go of his arm, and tried to get off of Aoshi once realizing the precarious position the two were in and the questions people would ask if they'd caught her atop him.
However, her attempts to get off of her beloved were stalled by his now-free hands grabbing her hips in his firm grip and keeping her pressed against him so intimately.
Misao's braid, which must have been struggling to stay tied, ended the battle then and there and unraveled. Her hair slid around them like a privacy curtain, and the air in the room suddenly seemed to thicken. As Misao's eyes lock with Aoshi's the muscles in her thighs quivered at the heat building in his eyes.
Too slowly, Aoshi's right hand slid from its previous resting spot upon her hip and traveled sensuously up her back in a feather-light caress before cupping her left cheek and slowly rubbing the still-there wetness from her tears.
His inaudible question was obvious to her, and she shook her head and cupped the hand lovingly holding her cheek, "Nightmares of the past. Nothing to fret over, Aoshi-anata."
Aoshi's eyes widened and then softened immediately once hearing the endearment attached to his name.
Guilt tried to sneak its way into his mind before resolution settled in the eyes of her beloved Aoshi. The hand that laid upon her hip pressed Misao gently closer and then the hand that cupped her face slid to the back of her head and into her luscious locks with the grace of a predator drawing his prey into him.
Their lips met in a soft kiss that apologized for his wrongdoings and promised something Misao had only dreamed would ever happen to her.
He made love to her with his mouth but avoided bringing it any further than just the passion of their mouths meeting.
What broke their heated kisses was the loud grumble Misao's stomach made at not consuming anything since before the attack. A huff left Misao's lips at how her stomach had interrupted the two's desire for each other. He smirked at her as he stood up from the ground while still holding her hand. He said, "Come. I will cook for you."
Misao raised an eyebrow but did not argue as he said that. This day would mark the first time he's cooked for her since they were children. She sighed happily at him taking care of her so well while she was this injured. The happiness soon turned to grumpiness as Aoshi swooped her into his arms.
"You know, I can walk by myself, Aoshi-sama," Misao grumbled while not really that irritated.
Aoshi kept her in his arms and brought her further into the Aoiya to the kitchen. He set her down on one of the counters, clearly trying to dissuade her from jumping down because it would undoubtedly be painful if she tried. Misao furrowed her eyebrows at so successfully being manhandled. She would never admit to the part of her, however large or small, that liked being manhandled by Aoshi.
Fast as lightning, he grabbed her chin between the thumb and forefingers of his left hand. His right delved into the hair at the back of her neck.
Aoshi then yanked her head back just enough to level their eyes, and he then proceeded to kiss the life out of her. Simultaneously, his right hand began tugging on her hair at various moments of the erotic kiss that of which he was so generously giving her.
He pried open her mouth with his hand at her chin that shifted to roughly clutch her lower jaw and by biting her lower lip sensuously. Misao opened willingly, forgetting that they could be walked in on while in a clinch. However, Misao didn't care; she just wanted him to keep kissing her like he owned her very breath. His kiss was so demanding that she melted into him and clutched him with her legs wrapped around his waist.
Aoshi's kiss dragged sounds from Misao that she had never heard herself make, and that made her blush even more. Her hips seemed restless, it was like they wanted to be pressed more directly against Aoshi's, and they craved what she could feel pressing against her right thigh.
Suddenly, there was a noise in the hallway just outside the kitchen doorway. Aoshi and Misao both sprang apart like children that got caught doing something they shouldn't.
Aoshi and Misao looked at each other with their hearts racing and each knowing that somebody might have caught them in a very indecent position. But they separated, knowing that they would finish this clinch later.
Aoshi quickly turned away and busied himself with preparing the stuff needed to cook her whatever he planned on making.
It turned out that the person who made noise outside the kitchen doorway was Jiya, and he seemed to know 'exactly' what was happening on that counter a few seconds prior.
Misao must have jinxed it by disregarding that anyone could walk in on them at that moment, and Okina must have before walking back into the hallway and making some sort of noise to break the not-yet-lovers apart.
Jiya smirked at her, and Misao shook her head at him, letting him know with just one look that she did not want any teasing. Her and Aoshi's relationship was still fresh, and she did not want someone else's jokes to take from the bliss she and Aoshi were feeling.
He sighed before nodding, and then he spoke up, "Children, what are we making?"
Misao coughed a laugh at Aoshi still being referred to as a child, for she had long accepted that she would always be considered the "baby" of the Oniwaban, but Aoshi? Aoshi was a twenty-eight-year-old man. Okina did not have a single excuse to call Aoshi by that name, but it was hilarious to Misao, so she said nothing against it. If Okina kept endearingly calling Aoshi "child," it might make Aoshi see that he was back in the fold. Aoshi was forgiven by Okina and the others, so they brought him back into their hearts.
Misao wiped all thoughts from her head as she curiously looked at Aoshi since she also did not know what he would be making her for breakfast.
He seemingly did not deem it necessary to answer, so he kept quiet while he worked.
Okina looked at her and said, "Bet you it's soup. It's all he could make back then."
Misao stopped and thought about it, "I'm sure Aoshi-sama's cooking got better since then. He's had twelve years to practice his lack of culinary skills." Misao broke off into peals of laughter and was interrupted by a couple of pieces of half-cooked eggs getting thrown at her.
"Hey! Now I will need a shower to wash all of this out of my hair!" Misao almost faltered in speaking at the heated look he threw at her once she said she needed a "shower."
Luckily, Okina did not seem to see the look Aoshi had discreetly sent her, but he might have thought better of expressing it if he had.
Once the three of them finished their "mostly-edible" breakfast, Aoshi and her abandoned Okina to clean up, and Aoshi carried Misao to the bathhouse for Misao to wash up.
Misao had hoped he would be there with her, but as luck would have it, he got pulled away by Shiro and Kuro at the last minute.
Okon and Omasu showed up in the nick of time to help her with the task of bathing herself.
-End of Chapter 5: Author's Note: -
Well? How did you all like this one? I hope it gives you a taste of what will happen when Misao and Aoshi DO take some more lemony steps.
Many thanks,
-Ami
