- Chapter 4: Author's Note: -

Once again, I am so sorry for the lack of updates.

I hope this chapter will be much longer than the chapter I gave you guys last time. Also, I don't know anything about Japanese weddings, so, sadly, I will skip writing the main ceremony, but there is some LEMONY ACTION ahead. Yay! Personal challenge accepted.

So, skip the next two chapters to avoid reading intimate scenes. However, if you will continue reading this chapter, please be nice in your comments. This chapter will be my first lemon ever posted….I hope I do the wedding night justice!

As I've said, 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, as well as Himura/Kaoru and Sanosuke/Megumi. I might even throw in some Yahiko/Tsubame and Saito/Tokio. :D

Please review your feelings about my story. :D

-Many Thanks,

Ami

- End of Chapter 4 Author's Note: -

- Chapter 4: The Wedding: -

Misao's POV:

The surprise of wearing her mother's wedding kimono brought Misao to tears, and she had to redo her makeup once Jiya had given it to her.

This gesture had taken her breath away, and when her husband had seen her in it, he looked as if he had also stopped breathing.

Throughout the ceremony, they stole innocent touches of one another and whispered vows that were just for their ears.

The wedding may have been small, but that was how Misao and Aoshi had wanted it to be.

When the party at the Aoiya was well underway, Misao snuck away to their room to take it all in.

She was now a married woman…and to her first love.

Misao had grown into her figure late and endured endless teasing for this very fact. Eventually, she did develop… and she hid her body in looser clothing while binding her breasts to keep her body to herself. Yes, there was a reason for the continued shame of her figure and the urge to hide her womanly nature.

She had been attacked when traveling alone to Tokyo just after the Enishi incident. Her strength and training had not been sufficiently advanced for these men's brute force. The things they did to her were unspeakable, and she didn't dare think about them in front of others or when alone.

Misao had to heal herself and pretend nothing was wrong in front of Kenshin and the others. Her face was uninjured, to her luck, and she had to buy new clothes before entering the Kenshin-gumi's residence. It was simple to hide her pain behind baggy clothes. She was already used to hiding emotions behind a mask of bubbly attitude and cheerfulness, so no one was ever the wiser.

Aoshi would certainly realize she was no virgin and would ask questions.

She would have to tell everyone tomorrow why the Yaro clan was after her. She would also have to explain how she defeated the Yaros momentarily. Misao had trained with Hiko, the only person to know what had happened to her and the only one she trusted to keep her secret. He was surprisingly gentle in the only way he knew how (ordering her to train with him; otherwise, he'd tell Shinomori about the incident). She knew that under his gruff orders hid a soft heart that ached for what she had gone through. Common sense told her he was giving her the confidence to travel again and seek vengeance by telling her to train.

Once she was stronger, she had hunted down every last member who'd raped her, including the Yaro leader's firstborn son.

Aoshi deserved to learn about everything in private and from Misao herself, and she worried that he would go to the dark side once more in vengeance for her.

Misao changed into her sheer wedding night kimono in preparation for their consummation but shivered in fright. She was scared of his reaction. Misao knew he loved her and would not blame her, but she was worried he'd leave again to take on the Yaros without her. Damnit! It was her right to take down the Yaro clan.

She began brushing her hair while sitting on their now-laid-out futon and worried her lip so much that it was getting swollen from her teeth.

This day was the happiest of Misao's life; from now on, she can call herself wife to her ex-leader and the love of her life, Aoshi Shinomori.

She had killed and mutilated those men, but Aoshi would not stand for the Yaro clan's continued existence after hearing about their demands for her head.

Misao had hoped to keep it a secret forever, but with the surprise attack where they were lucky, she was so tired that they inured her. She knew it was pointless to keep the charade any longer.

She panicked while changing, setting their bed, and brushing her hair. Misao had been so distracted with her spiraling thoughts that she had not noticed her husband was already in the room leaning against the wall next to the shoji.

Misao held a hand out, indicating that she wanted him to stay there momentarily while considering how to start explaining. She didn't even know if she could perform her duty to him as his wife tonight because she had no sexual partners after that dreadful first experience that she so wished could have been Aoshi's and not some random group of men preying on women on the trail from Kyoto to Tokyo.

Her shivering must have alluded to him that she was intensely frightened, and his ki responded to the fear he could sense in her. Shuffling towards him, she stopped before him but out of arms' reach. He searched for the danger at first but then realized she very well could be frightened of him.

Aoshi blinked and then, in a split second, had her in his arms. She had resisted for the briefest moment and then melted into his assuring arms. Misao swallowed thickly and spoke frightfully, "So-some-thing happened a-and I have to tell you before tomorrow. You deserve to hear it from me before w-we….…" Her throat closed in fright as Aoshi stiffened against her.

There was no fooling her husband, the ex-Okashira of the Oniwaban. His mind could go places, and he knew what happened to women in their business.

"I made it through it, and later I disposed of all of them, including their leader's son….but…." Unlike anything she had heard from him before, a sound escaped and set the hairs on her body to stand in fright. The sound was full of pain, denial, and menace. Misao had no idea how she determined all those emotions in that growl, but she could.

She flinched as his right hand came to cup her cheek, and tears flooded her eyes at the look in his eyes before he spoke sharply, "Enough…" His thumb swiped underneath her left eye… "I understand. If you would rather wait for tonight…"

Misao interrupted loudly, "No!" She breathed before interrupting him again, just as he was about to say something else, "I just don't want you to think I had any other lovers than you. My first time may have been undesirable, to say the least, but you would never hurt me that way."

"That is why the Yaro is after you…because you killed their men. I had heard about your slaying of those men, and you had not explained why you had killed those men. I assumed you were protecting women travelers…I should have realized…."

She interrupted him again with, "I'm glad you didn't realize. I wanted you to hear it from me if you were ever going to find out. I may not be pleased that you know I've killed before, but I didn't want anyone to know if I could help it. What if you…" Misao stopped suddenly, realizing she almost admitted how she feared him leaving again and going on a killing spree.

To some effect, Misao said she didn't quite trust him enough not to do that.

His eyes got impossibly softer, and he pushed her head to rest against his chest, and he cupped the back of her head and vowed, "I will never leave you."

God, he knew her so well.

Cautiously, not wanting to offend her, he softly broached the topic of wanting her to learn self-defense under his guidance, "I will help you train if you should ever need or want my assistance."

She smiled at him, unoffended by his offer to protect her; she realized he wanted her to feel confident in her skills.

Misao suddenly vowed, "There's been no one but you in my heart for twelve years, Aoshi-anata, and I am sorry my first time was stolen and wasn't with you."

She pushed his arms off her, walked to put her brush away, and then dropped her kimono in front of him, "But I am not affected by what's happened in the past anymore; that was nearly two years ago, and I am now your wife." She walked to their futon, beckoned him from where he stood next to the door, and said, "Come to bed, husband; the rest can wait for tomorrow….Now….I want you to erase my body's memories of that day."

He walked up to her slowly and waited to see if she would flinch away from his hold, but she didn't. He wrapped her into his hold, for he was not a man of many words and had no idea what he wanted to express. But he wanted her to know that he supported her and was only hers from now on.

Tears began clouding Misao's sight at the hug her new lover initiated and the words spoken silently through his hold.

She buried her face in his chest and tried to choke down the lump of shame she felt at getting caught off guard by the Yaro when she was raped and once again when she was so tired from traveling and had ended up injured once more.

His hands stroked her back in feather-soft caresses that comforted her and stimulated her senses of what would soon occur between them.

The man was lovely to her and didn't judge her for what had happened. He was her husband for the rest of the time.

She wrapped her arms around his back and held him close while waiting for him to speak.

"Misao."

"Hmm?"

"It was not your fault, and had you not killed them, they would be dead tomorrow."

He tilted her chin up so she could lock eyes with him, and he gave her the briefest and softest of kisses and spoke his final words for that night, "Misao-mine, my precious…do not be ashamed and do not be afraid I'd leave again. I promise tonight that I will never leave you as I once did. You would know if I should have to in the future, but I will always be back as soon as possible."

A blush heated her cheeks as happiness flooded through her veins, and she instigated the kiss that led to many sweet moments between them as he showed her just how much he loved her that night.

And the two became one. (The wedding night should be a private affair for them as they have waited so long. So, I shall leave it to everyone's imagination. However, there are HEAVY lemons in the very next chapter).

-End of Chapter 4: Author's Note:-

I did a good job on this chapter if I say so myself. Please, no flames for my efforts at making my first lemon between this couple.

-Many thanks!

Ami

-End of Chapter 4's Author's Note: -