AOSHI/MISAO REBOOT

Author's Note:

I do not own any original characters or plotlines of this perfect series written by Nobuhiro Watsuki. Therefore, I am merely adding a different plotline to create a chance for Aoshi and Misao to get together sooner. I will add Himura/Kaoru and Megumi/Sano tidbits followed by slight Yahiko/Tsubame moments. I want to add them to the story if I can reach the point where I want to start mentioning other couples in the storyline.

-Chapter 1-

Misao's POV:

The young Okashira limped through the outer Kyoto Forest at midnight. The night's events still played through her mind as she numbly stumbled through the dimly lit woods, the moon her only guide.

Logically, she was in shock; she knew. Yet, she could still find her way home if she were blindfolded and deaf. She had traveled through these trees one too many times, not to know precisely how long it would take in her current condition to get to the Aoiya. Grimly, she determined to get there before dawn breaks, but it was nearing three in the morning, and daybreak was only two hours away.

She wondered if she could make it, but Misao knew it was more probable that she would get there after dawn.

Misao pushed the surge of guilt that ran through her mind away as her thoughts once again flickered from pain to the night's battle.

She was returning from her solo trip to Tokyo when she got attacked just outside of Kyoto. Misao was armed, but the ambush that came upon her was too much.

Misao carried neither a tanto nor sword, but her many kunai and two Sai swords. There had to have been ten or more men who converged on her. Instinctively, Misao knew they were here for her.

She recognized them from their uniforms and knew they were from the Yaro Ninja clan; they were the Oniwaban's long-time enemies.

Recently, Misao expanded Oniwaban's reach in Kyoto, all to keep the peace in the town. However, one clan was particularly unwilling to stop its illegal activities. Three guesses who, huh?

The Yaro clan, justly named after the Japanese slang word for 'bastard' or 'scum-like person,' were unwilling to leave the Bakumatsu era of chaos and battles. They raided the outskirts of Kyoto regularly and murdered just as often the innocents. Misao had been pressuring her allies to aid her so they could finally snuff out the recent uprising of the Yaros; however, she was still receiving no luck. The Yaro clan had grown to alarming numbers, and many of their allies were afraid to be led into battle by a 'young girl.'

Misao ignored the insults and proved her strength as a leader. Some clans were now beginning to be swayed into helping. However, this ambush reveals that someone informed the enemy about her investigations and her desire for their removal.

If they thought Misao would go down easy with only ten or so to take her out, boy, were they wrong!

Misao may have been surprised, but she had sought out Hiko Seijuro, sensei to the infamous Hitokiri Battousai. Misao had the giant swordsman help her understand her father's training journals, which included many fighting styles. Misao was also a quick study; Hiko himself had told her so. So, while she may have been outnumbered and out-weaponized, she could take these men.

Shuriken whizzed past her head when she instinctively moved away from her spot. Mentally, she counted the number of kunai she had on her and was displeased that she had not brought the maximum amount. However, the little she had would have to do; she would have to use the twenty kunai wisely.

She did a quick headcount of who she could see and reached the number ten before she began to attack.

Misao may have undergone extensive training, but she was tired from doing overnights and pushing through the last stretch of land before Kyoto. She had known she was in enemy territory, but arrogance had led her to believe she could slip through invisible.

Too late, she had realized that one or more of the shuriken must have nicked her somewhere on her body. Those shuriken blades must have been poisoned to slow her body.

Now, she felt she had moved too slowly but soldiered on, trying to use her energy and kunai wisely. These men did not speak, which was fine with Misao; it helped her focus her senses on staying awake and upright enough to fight.

Fast as lightning, Misao threw her first kunai, puncturing through the first man's eye and effectively killing him.

Sensing movement behind her, Misao flipped over a scrawny man trying to cut her down with his katana. She killed him in a split second while flipping over him to land on his back, with her second kunai burying into his jugular savagely.

Misao's head whipped up from her kill to look forward as three more men came from the woods into the clearing where the battle occurred. She ripped her kunai from the dying man's neck, and the real action started.

Hand-to-hand combat while fighting poison was not incredibly fun, and this was when the battle began to sway in favor of the Yaro clan.

One managed to slice deeply into her right thigh as another punched her in the back, breaking her ribs. Growling at the change of tides, Misao used her two sais to push back any blades aiming for her neck or head while kicking out at the one who punched her from behind. Her donkey kick sought true, and she connected with the man's groin and successfully knocked him back several feet. Waves of dizziness threaten to collapse her, but she fights on.

She found an opening on one of the three advancing on her from all sides, and she took it by piercing the man's Adam's apple, chest, and stomach in a quick three-part move while also using her other sai to block his incoming wakizashi attack.

The other two she had left open to attack her, but she had killed that man so fast that before they could do anything, she was already meeting them with both of her sais.

Misao made quick work of those two when a hand grabbed her braid and swung her around. She grunted at the pain from her hair getting yanked, but she followed the motion and blocked the tanto from stabbing her gut. The rest of the battle concluded with her victory, but only after she employed underhanded tactics and sustained additional injuries from those attacks.

Her eye was beginning to swell, and her shoulder ached from getting popped out of place. Misao's body also sustained multiple stab wounds that she had instinctively turned away from fast enough not to end up being serious wounds. However, a nasty slice ran along from the middle of her thigh to the outside of her thigh. She had to deal with dragging her leg behind her as she walked back to the Aoiya.

Her back also burned with every step, so she assumed there must be another significant cut running down her back.

To make matters worse, she was beginning to get sleepy due to the unidentifiable poison, and that did not help with trying to get to the Aoiya before dawn. Misao prayed that it was just a sleeping draught.

Pushing depressing thoughts of not making it to the Aoiya from her mind, she began to think about whether she had done a good enough job of making the scene of bodies look like an animal attack or at least like they were fighting amongst themselves. She covered her tracks as best as possible, found a quiet spot to stop, and roughly bandaged herself to avoid making a trail of blood.

Hopefully, Misao thought, nobody was on the streets of Kyoto this early in the morning. So she would have to guess it was around 4 a.m. or 4:30 at the latest.

God answered Misao's prayers to reach the city as she approached Kyoto's city limits. Misao, however, would have to tactically plan her way through the city streets so that she might get to the Aoiya unseen. Dawn was soon approaching, and she could see the sky begin to lighten.

Gritting her teeth as another wave of nausea and dizziness threaten to make her pass out, she begins walking again, wondering when she has stopped to stare at the city.

She slowly crept through back alleys and the city's outer edges until she had to cross through the heart of the town to the other side of Kyoto, where the Aoiya resided.

Misao grew increasingly anxious, and as the sun drew closer to the horizon, the sky grew lighter. She also became more nauseous the closer she came to the Aoiya.

She stopped in her tracks, her body almost unwilling to go on as she leaned against one of many trees lining the backroad of the Aoiya. She was no longer lucid and had no idea how close or far she was from her home base. Misao was indeed lost in her hometown. Closing her eyes, she shook her head and, immediately regretting her impulsive decision to clear her head by shaking it, Misao almost passed out right then and there.

Suddenly, she began to want Aoshi there with her before she passed out. His calming presence would be a balm to her aching body and spirit. Shuddering with the aftereffects of the poison and her limited energy, Misao suddenly accepted that she might not make it to the Aoiya before passing out.

Suddenly, like she had summoned him mentally, she felt his presence as an almost questioning press against her ki.

She felt alarmed rise within him at her weak attempt at replying. Misao did not know how fast he reached her, but it felt like hours before he finally found her.

Gentle arms caught her as she fell into them, and he leaned down to sweep her into them before he ran like lightning to the Aoiya.

When he lifted her into his arms, she clung to him. Then, while he ran to what she assumed would be the Aoiya, she tilted her head into his neck and smelled him. Then, sighing happily at his scent, she whispered, "Aoshi-sama. You found me."

He held her a little tighter to his chest and grunted in response. Misao's heart warmed at his shyness in expressing feelings verbally while being tormented by the fact that she was so severely injured.

Misao woke as they reached a doctor's office, and it felt like she was dying. She caught a couple of rushed and worried words here and there.

"Her wounds are extensive, and she seems to have bled for quite a while until you found her. She has lost much blood, sir, so you probably should start praying for her to survive , unfortunately, she may not even make it." The doctor talked to someone she assumed to be Aoshi, for she felt his presence in the room.

When she felt the panic in his ki, Misao reached for a hand mindlessly, searching for Aoshi's. She found his hand and tugged it sluggishly, intending to have him lean in to listen to her words, "Iwillmake it, but I will accept prayers for a speedy recovery."

A huff of breath left his lips and wafted across her left cheek. Misao gave a cheeky grin at finally almost pulling a laugh from the infamously stoic man beside her. She could not see him past the blur that veiled her eyes, but she could see his outline leaning near her on the left side of her aching body.

Misao was startled. He propped his right arm by her left shoulder to lean close to her face, and his left hand's thumb stroked her right cheek. This action was the most intimate he had ever had with Misao, and she probably looked at him with wonder. Misao could not help but wonder if he would kiss her.

Well, it was not precisely where she had wanted him to kiss her, but his kissing her forehead was promising for their near future.

Her eyes closed at the feeling of protection his kiss had given her. Then, what felt like boiling water poured on her left thigh and shocked her into a sudden scream, passing out from the sheer pain the wound cleanser caused.

In what felt like hours but may have been days, Misao awoke at midnight groaning in pain.

She could not see anything for a second, making herself panic as she feared she would be blind after this incident.

However, her eyes cleared after a minute or two. Misao breathed a sigh of relief and instantly regretted it as her ribs seized in pain.

Once the wave of pain left, she saw a movement towards her left and felt Aoshi's presence.

Aoshi had not noticed her awaken.

Aoshi shifted from leaning against the wall by the door to sitting with his knees raised and his back resting on the wall. His head then turned towards her, and his eyes widened as he looked at her.

Aoshi's ki awoke as he realized she was awake, and then he seemed to materialize to her side as she rose to a sitting position on her cot. She shook off his hands gently, and she spoke, "I want to recover at home, not here. Here is not safe with one of us injured and those assassins still out there. We need all the numbers we can get. Then, once they find the bodies or figure out that their men have not returned, they will know I am still alive. Hell, this doctor might even become their next target."

He seemed to think about it for a moment, but she had already decided to go home, so she proceeded to get to her knees before he started aiding her in getting up. Once she was stable on her feet, he moved to where the doctor's operating table was and proceeded to write a note and leave a bag of money there.

The doctor was Oniwaban, so he would know to burn the letter, get rid of any evidence of their stay here, and keep quiet about fixing up a heavily injured young woman should anyone come asking. It was then that they left for the Aoiya, under cover of the early morning darkness.

Misao was pleased that this doctor had previously agreed to move his clinic closer to the Aoiya once their partnership began two years ago.

To travel fast, Aoshi carried Misao in his arms, careful not to rupture her stitches. As a result, nothing happened on their way home, which was a blessing.

When they walked into the gates of the Aoiya, Aoshi stopped suddenly.

Misao looked at him questioningly, then gazed down at her and said, "It seems as if I did not think to tell the others what happened."

He did not say sorry, but she knew he was; otherwise, he would not have made any statement.

Regardless, Misao groaned at all the questions the others would soon throw at her. Instead of rebuking him for not preparing the others for her injured state, she melted inside at the thought of him being so worried; he could not help but stay and wait for her to see a doctor.

Misao shook her head and silently nodded at the Aoiya doors so he could take her inside.

She fully expected someone to be awake and starting the workday in the Aoiya, seeing as it was currently four in the morning. Everyone usually started waking up at this time. However, not a soul was in sight, which was troubling.

Misao threw a questioning glance at Aoshi; however, he looked intensely as if concentrating on something. Aoshi stopped once they entered the Aoiya doors, and Misao tuned her ears to the direction he was focusing. Someone must have felt their approach to the Aoiya's front doors. Both Aoshi and Misao could hear their footsteps from the hallway to their left.

Aoshi and Misao stood facing the reception desk, where two hallways converged to form the reception area. The left hallway led to the Aoiya rooms and the Aoiya staff's bedrooms, while the right led to the restaurant and kitchen.

Misao panicked, looked up, and to her right at Aoshi, who still held her. Then, she flickered her eyes from the ground to his arms, still holding her.

His expression did not change, nor did his hold.

Misao sent Aoshi a look that demanded he let her down. Then, he flicked her eyes to the left hallway, where Okina would soon come from and see them in this compromising position. Okina would surely think that I am together with him. Damnit, Aoshi, put me down. Misao wriggled in his arms and groaned at the pain of such action. She then locked eyes with Aoshi and saw his right eyebrow rise with a look that mocked her stupidity purely.

Misao sighed resolutely, and suddenly, an idea popped into her head. Indeed, it would work.

She relaxed into Aoshi's hold and lovingly tucked her head into his neck. It was hard to wipe the smirk off her face from the sheer intelligence of this action. On the one hand, Misao would make Aoshi, the infamously unfeeling man, uncomfortable; on the other hand, she would fool Okina.

A snort of disbelief and humor silently releases from the stubborn man as he figures out her action plan.

Milliseconds later, Okina enters the room from the hall and stops dead at the sight before him. Misao lay "asleep" in his infamously stoic ex-leader's arms, and the man in question's eyes was noticeably soft on the young woman in his arms.

It takes but seconds for Okina to smell the blood and medicine coming from the two, and that is when Okina shouts in distress, "Misao!"

Misao, who was not expecting him to shout, startles in Aoshi's arms and opens her eyes. She then glared at Okina for his loudness, which did not help her temples or body ache.

Misao released a long-suffering sigh of irritation as she thought of ways to silence the grandfather she loved so dearly. From the strength of Okina's shout, she was sure to be bombarded by the others of the household, and her head began to ache more just thinking about that surety.

Gritting her teeth, she lightly patted Aoshi's shoulder and gestured with her head to the ground as if asking to be let down. Yet, Aoshi happened to ignore her stubbornly.

Misao grumbles at Aoshi, "You could have at least told Okina; then I would be able to go straight to bed instead of having to deal with this right now when all I want to do is curl up and sleep in my own bed." Sending a glare to Aoshi before switching targets to Okina, she then said, "Now Jiya, I've hardly slept, been poked and prodded by a doctor, and only want silence to beat this ever-growing migraine I have. Can we talk about what happened to me later?" Just as she finished her last question, the others barreled into the room individually. Some came from the left hallway, while others came from the right.

Omasu and Shiro seemed to be awake in the kitchen while the others were still sleeping.

Their voices combined as they surrounded both Aoshi and her, and they began to be so loud that Misao's brain felt like it was shredding itself. Misao lifted her left hand and pressed it to her left ear to block everything out. Then she pressed her other ear to Aoshi's hard but comfortable pec muscle, and she curled into him, succumbing to her migraine.

Aoshi gently cuddled her closer into his chest and kept his voice low, mindful of her head splitting apart, when he said, "Enough. Misao needs rest; I will watch over her tonight. She will discuss this after she awakens."

Aoshi then walks, and the crowd divides so that Aoshi has room to take her into the left hallway. The others can only stare in shock at Aoshi's protectiveness. Nobody followed them, complying with Aoshi's authoritative command.

Omasu sighs happily, swoons into Okon, and whispers loudly, "Finally, he's found his feelings!"

Okon swooned into her sister in kind and whispered back quieter than her much louder twin sister Omasu, "Yes, finally."

Okina, Shiro, and Kuro stood there in silence, gazing upon the hallway Aoshi and Misao disappeared into with concern in their eyes. They worried about what had happened to Misao and how Aoshi had come to be with her.

Back to Aoshi and Misao:

When Misao saw her room, she relaxed and craved the feeling of her blankets and bed cushioning her aching body.

However, Misao was unaware that Aoshi planned to take her to his room to rest. He wanted to be near her if anything should happen.

So, when Aoshi walked right past her room, Misao was ready to scream in agitation. However, when Misao saw where he was heading, her heart began to pound, anticipating what this could mean. Thoughts raced in her mind; why is he taking me to his room? Could he be turning his heart to me? Oh, I hope!

Misao did not have to look at Aoshi to know he would be watching her intently, waiting for her blush to betray her thoughts. Lately, she has often caught him staring at her in a weirdly intense way. The more she locks eyes with his icy blues, the deeper he stares at her.

Desperate to figure out why he stared so much, she turned to the other members of the Aoiya staff. Misao leaves them more frustrated and confused when she asks, for they would not tell her. Instead, Omasu or Okon would look at her with a mix of humor and anticipation. It was as if the girls were waiting for Misao to figure it out on her own, which frustrated her. She would not come to the only confidants she knew if she knew the answer.

Hell! Misao had even traveled to see Kaoru, gain her insight, and look how well that turned out. But, crippled with pain and no closer to what Aoshi's looks could mean, Misao had no one to turn to for advice. She had Jiya, but Misao would never dare mention her feelings to him again after their last conversation about their introverted and cold ex-leader.

Misao never used to get confused about what Aoshi was thinking, seeing as she had known him so well as a child. However, after the Kyoto incident, it became harder for Misao to discern who Aoshi was inside. It was even harder to determine if he was still the Aoshi she once knew so well.

She feels hopeless whenever she catches his eye, and Misao wonders when Aoshi will find his courage and do something! This waiting game is churning at Misao's insides. She has become so shy and confused around him that she has stopped taking tea to him at the temple, which she used to do frequently after he returned.

But presently, all Misao could think about was how warm he was and how he smelled like incense and green tea.

Misao could instantly feel herself relaxing further into his broad chest, and with her heart and stomach fluttering, they entered his room at the end of the hall, secluded from everyone.

It was his damn fault for causing such feelings in her because he just HAD to change their destination to his room, a room she'd never seen.

As she had expected, his room was clean and unadorned, with nothing personal to Aoshi except his double kodachi hung on the left wall. Aoshi's room was almost like his person, cold and unfeeling.

If Misao could snag Aoshi's heart, she'd melt it, color his life, and add some personality to his plain and awful room.

Gently, he set her down on her feet while setting up his tatami mat and mattress. Misao understood that he wanted her to stay where she stood without needing to say a word. So, while he worked, she fiddled with her fingers awkwardly and looked anywhere but directly at him.

He just had to know that she was out of her element when he treated her so gently and carefully and that she was suspicious of his sudden change in attitude towards her.

Therefore, the awkwardness was getting too much for the injured and weary Misao, causing her only to want to crawl onto her mattress and avoid the steadily more forward Aoshi.

However, Misao's body was perfectly content to stay in his arms, and her body seemed to cry in disappointment at him putting her down.

She must have zoned out too much, for Misao got swept off her feet in the next second, and she had to catch the scream that threatened to release. But, it was only Aoshi carrying her to the comfy-looking mattress on the floor, so there was no reason for her to be so jumpy. Regardless, Misao's every breath shoots lightning bolts of pain through her body; she's been in love with this man for many years, and he's suddenly taking care of her, so she's seconds away from begging Aoshi to take her to her room and to leave her be.

What she expects him to do is tuck her into his bed and lean against the wall nearest the bed. Instead, he lays down right next to her and tucks her into his body. Maybe it was his arms wrapped around her or that he tucked her so closely into his body that she was pressed gently but securely to his chest, but Misao's pain was erased from her mind. All she could think about was her comfort in his arms as she drifted to sleep…

- Next Morning: -

Waking up in her Aoshi-sama's arms felt like a dream for Misao. Misao wondered what had changed to make him so caring, but the change seemed almost sudden, like a light switching on and off.

Misao didn't dare move; if she did, she would surely wake him. His face in sleep was soft, with a slight opening of his lips with every breath he took. Misao could feel every last bit of her heart transferring to this man's unknowing hands. This soft feeling of love was indeed what bliss felt like, and Misao felt drunk from it.

If they remained separate after what happened last night, she'd kill him. There's no way he could tease her like this and change his mind to return to being stoic Aoshi and confused Misao.

Last night, if getting under the covers with her meant what she thought it did, he declared where she now stood in his life. He was beginning a new chapter, and she was a major component of that 'new chapter.'

- Author's Note: -

I hope you liked this short chapter. This chapter will serve as a filler, as the real content will be presented in the next chapter. First, however, I wanted to provide you guys with something, at the very least.

Many thanks,

-Ami