Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Curl ❯ Chapter 5

Author's Note:

Geez, I know I'm taking forever to get to the knitty gritty… This is why AU fics are harder, because the setting isn't just provided for you. I've thanked all the reviewers personally, at least those who left their email addresses, and I'm hoping to meet many more interesting readers and writers. ^-^

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Misao didn't figure that their first dinner together would be held in a traditional manner - where nobody spoke a single word, but simply ate. It shattered her nerves, and she tried to keep still, but she just couldn't manage it. She was picking at her food with a fork in her right hand, while the left was resting on the chair cushion, as if her arm was holding her up. Her feet were kicking underneath the table, like a child waiting for recess.

To everyone's surprise, Aoshi was the first to speak, but not until he was finished with his salad and moving on to the main course. "Your classes begin on Monday, Sanosuke?"

"Oy, 'Sano.' I warned you about that starch in your underwear…" Sano then took note of the fact that Aoshi had a knife in his hand. Blunt, but still a knife… though being stabbed with a blunt object probably would hurt a hell of a lot more than, say, a sword. "Er, anyway. No, that's just registering for courses. Classes don't actually start until two weeks after."

Then all eyes were on Misao. Obviously, Aoshi felt no need to reiterate the question, and he didn't like repeating himself, in any case. It took a soft kick under the table from Sano for her to wake up, and notice that Aoshi was looking at her.

"Eh… what was the question?" Her left hand rose up to scratch behind her head, as though she were flipping a switch which finally registered what was said, "Oh… OH! Right. Well, yeah… classes start on Wednesday… Monday and Tuesday are half days for orientation…" She swallowed a lump in her throat with some difficulty. She was outnumbered, two to one. Not to mention she was at least half of the size of either of them, and the youngest in the pot. Who wouldn't feel intimidated with that icy stare and those chocolate eyes?

'Uhm. Misao - hormone, check.' She mentally smacked her forehead… although that transpired to her head actually cocking back as though she had done it literally. That rewarded her with some strange looks as well, from both parties. Soft rouge appeared over the bridge of her nose, and she sheepishly continued eating.

"Who knew they made uniforms cut for weasels…" Sano grinned as he went onto his third helping.

'Behave, Misao. Behave.' She was trying *really* hard to make a good impression… after all, she would have to live here for at least the next year before she graduated. 'What a rotten time to move.' Sighing softly, she just rolled her eyes and took her frustration out on the poor grilled chicken breast on her plate.

The infamous rooster-boy… man… guy… nearly choked to death during one of his gluttonous exploits when there was the sudden clattering of silverware onto china. Aoshi merely glanced at the young lady who looked like she had just seen a lightning bolt hit twice in the same spot in front of her face.

"Misao-chan?" As Sano was… indisposed, Aoshi spoke up.

'That Aoshi. Can't keep him quiet, can we?' His younger brother would've smirked if he wasn't busy pounding his chest to get some food down his gullet into his anxiously awaiting stomach.

"…a-anno. I sort of forgot…" she swallowed nervously, tucking her hands under her, and looking down at her plate. "The first day of orientation is for the students… the second is for…" Misao briefly paused to draw in a breath, "…parents and students." She suddenly felt like she was sinking two floors down, and fading fast. 'If only Jiya… geez, what am I doing here…'

The table was silent. The topic of "parents" wasn't exactly a popular one among the diners. Let's review… Aoshi's parents divorced when he was a boy because his mother became pregnant with another man's child. Sano, the other man's child, grew up with a father constantly living in the shadow of his wife's first husband, and who died while he was still a boy. And then there was Misao.

No parents. Nothing.

Well, nothing connected by blood. Jiya was the love of her life, in the way that a mother and father - or in this case, grandfather, could be the center of her whole being and happiness. What heart she had belonged to the chicken-head sitting across from her, and Jiya. Sure, she had her one aunt… Aoshi and Sano's mother… but she pulled away after Sagara-san died. Usually, she just… tried not to think about it.

Sanosuke and Aoshi simply looked at one another in understanding. Sano knew both Misao and Aoshi almost as well as he knew himself. He knew what was going on in their heads, and it didn't come with a shiny bow or a pretty greeting card.

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A young … younger Sano and Misao sat on the banks of the canal where his father used to take him on picnics. His mother cherished the little getaway. It was a peaceful place, bordered by tall lush trees that towered overhead. Their small feet dabbled in the cool waters, as they laid back and stared at the sky.

"Some day, weasel. I'm going to be tall like that tree," Sano said as he tucked his hands behind his head.

"In your dreams, chicken head." She uprooted some blades of grass and threw them at him, and he just chuckled and shrugged it off. Mimicking her 'niichan, she tucked her hands under her head as well.

They could hear the soft voices of Jiya and Sagara-san's widow, they sounded… bittersweet. It was as though they were trying too hard to sound happy. Misao's eyelids drifting half closed, and it was quite some time before she spoke again.

"Sano-nii'."

"Aa?" Sano had closed his eyes for a bit and peeked out of the corner of his eye to see an apathetic mask covering what was once the genki genki Makimachi Misao. He said nothing about it, but simply let her continue to get whatever it was on her chest, off her chest. 'And damn sure it ain't breasts.'

"What's it like to have a mother?" Sano blinked his eyes open, as though he thought he heard something he wasn't meant to. He licked his lips, preparing to speak… and then couldn't find the words. Misao turned to him when she heard him sigh, and start to get up.

He only sat up, and pulled his feet from the water, and looked blankly straight ahead of him, "If you're thinking you're any different because you don't have one… well, you're wrong." He'd seen enough movies and television to feel confident enough to counsel his imouto-chan. "Y'see, that's just not how the real world works…"

Okay, so both of them knew that neither had really experienced the harsh realities of the real world. Their respective parental units had prevented such a thing as far as the eye can see.

"You are who you are because of who you are and where you came from and the people you love, and those who love you," she looked at him with those clear blues, untouched by anything the cruel world had to offer. 'She's so… cute.' Her hair was whipping around her face with a soft gentle breeze… the blue-black strands framing her porcelain face. Sighing deeply… swearing he was going to hell just for *thinking* that… He swallowed to recover, trying not to lose his touch…"If that isn't enough for you weasel, I hope a pack of hunting dogs drag your carcass down stream and rip you apart." He slowly brought his attention back to her face, after staring at a tree far beyond where they were sitting. Suddenly, he stiffened as he felt two smaller arms wrap around his neck, and he didn't refuse.

They hugged at the canal for a bit, with two teary-eyed on-lookers, who saw a bright and happy future for their children. It was one of the few peaceful moments the two would ever share, and locked away in their hearts, knowing love the way only children can.