Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Curl ❯ Chapter 9

Misao was debating whether the walk to school was more or less comfortable with Aoshi there instead of Sano. At least there would be yelling or *some* noise or something… this was just painful silence between them. She didn't really pay attention to anyone or thing else, only hearing the jingling coming from her backpack - probably her new set of keys or her pencil case - matching the melody of the change in the coin purse in the pocket inside her blazer. Parts of the city were already alive and buzzing. But, Aoshi walked along side her with his hands in his pockets finding no need for words. He had draped a long black trench coat over himself to fend off the cold, but besides that, nothing of his attire changed.

'I guess being the son of the boss has its perks,' Misao thought to herself, glancing over at Aoshi occasionally. Although, she tried not to look, and the more she tried, the more she did.

"Is there something on my face?" Misao sputtered and tripped over her own feet at the sound of his voice. He didn't have to look at her to know she was looking at him. He'd never let her know he was amused by the sudden change in her demeanor. It was as though nothing had happened. This morning was far from forgotten, but at least he found some way to get her to snap back to her senses, if just temporarily.

"Ii-iie Aoshi-sama," She blushed softly, tucking her hands around the straps of her backpack, as her gaze fell to the floor. Her physical balance was back, but there was a familiar skip in her heartbeat when she was thrown off-guard. It took a while - okay, a couple of seconds - before she could look back up at him. His posture, his countenance, nothing had changed. Yet, something in the tone… or maybe in the way he moved his feet when he turned the corner. Something told her that he was… trying to cheer her up.

Again, she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going, and was taken off-guard by the tall man when he gently took her arm and tugged her closer to his side. By now, her face was boiling from a heat coming from within her, and it showed. Blinking twice, she looked ahead, and then at him, and to where she had been walking to. She'd nearly run into a street post.

"Pay attention next time," As carefully as he took her arm, he let it go. She nearly pouted, since apparently he had yet found the need or care to actually look at her. Her head popped up when she heard a loud bell tolling, from a clock tower that was insight further up ahead. They were here.

Here was St. Catherine's. It looked very different from Misao's old public school back in Kyoto, it kind of looked like the British Embassy or something. Even in her uniform, she felt under dressed. There was a large brick wall that framed the entrance gates to the school, and a wide path leading up to the tall front doors to the main building of the campus. The path had large trees, which were tickled auburn and rust, making for quite the beautiful autumn scene. Girls were clamoring to get through the doors now, and Misao quickly figured the bell was to signify the beginning of classes. She started to run ahead to the school, but then stopped short.

"Forget something?" Aoshi inquired curiously, staring at the paused back of the young woman he'd accompanied. His head was slightly inclined, as though trying to peek around her to read the expression on her face. Then he blinked, and his eyes flickered as the girl nearly bounced back to him, and threw her slender arms around his neck in a quick, yet impassioned hug.

"Arigato gozaimasu, Aoshi-sama," and then as quickly as she'd pounced, the weasel began to scamper back towards the school.

*-*-*-*

'Curious girl,' he thought as he felt her eyes roam over his features for the umpteenth time. They'd hadn't gotten a block away from the apartment building yet, and it was as though they had walked for miles in the desert… like she'd never seen a man before in her entire life. 'What could possibly be so fascinating?' He nearly shook his head. Nearly.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked, his gaze was hiding behind those long bangs of his. There was hidden mirth concealed behind those cobalt eyes. Of course, he'd never let her see it. She seemed like she was back to normal. Just regular ol' Misao.

Had he known her so long that he would be able to discern who she was normally and not? Not even three days yet, and his feelings were put in a torrent over seeing that distressed side of her this morning. 'Woman.' A single word that floated in his mind and it was commonly associated with pain. Women in his life either left, or were left, and marked nothing. Including his own mother. Was this pretty little thing beside him a woman? All he had seen up until that morning was a girl, with a very short fuse, with a very long tail - er, braid. Energetic, and violent… although the violence could be excused considering, well, it was Sano.

That isn't what he saw this morning. He hadn't seen a girl who dropped her ice cream cone, and mourned its loss. Or a child that lost its lollipop in the sandbox. On that bed, he saw the vision of a broken woman, riddled with the pain of hurt. A kind of a hurt shown on her face like none that could ever be inflicted by a sword or fist. The needling that came from the core of one's center and forced its way to the surface until it pierced every nerve and conduit, and not a single one could run or hide from it. The kind of pain…

That he had seen in his mother's face so many times before. His logic took over, to prevent any emotions of time long past from surfacing. He could not deny that his mother was a woman, regardless of what *kind* of woman she was, and because this was true… Then what he saw today was an example of a woman. Logically concluding that Misao, or some part of her, had to be a woman.

Then of course, the pills. Of course he knew what they were… it had just taken a couple of seconds for it to digest into his system. She was taking birth control pills. A medication that was taken in order to prevent having children as a result of sexual intercourse. The facts laid out in his mind like her was a walking medical journal. Women take these things. So why would this cause him to feel anything?

He felt no reason to search for the answer at that particular moment in time.

As he had to prevent Misao from giving herself a concussion on an innocent street post. "Pay attention next time," he stated. Her arm was so delicate, and yet he'd seen it pack a wallop. Perhaps this is where the speed of her punches lied? No, he knew she practiced the art, and hence forth, some of her speed must be attributed to skill. His hand easily wrapped around the whole of it, and he was suddenly awed by her petite form. He was letting go of her arm as a flash of a girl, sopping wet, in nothing more than a towel came to mind…

The train of thought had screeched to a halt by the sounding of a bell's toll. Bringing his attention to the autumn picture that framed the school's main building, he watched as girls, in Misao's uniform, took to the hive mentality and got their way into school. He felt more than saw Misao run up ahead, as there was now a void by his side that he'd never noticed before. Then she stopped.

"Forget something?" his tone remained even, despite the thoughts that were clouding his perceptions. As a sudden warmth of a body pressed against his radiated through him, briefly shattering the icy walls of his person, the only thing he saw was this woman's dazzling smile. When the warmth retreated, his walls built their way back up again as quickly as they had fallen. His hands never came out of his pockets, and never moved to hold Misao when she hugged him and whispered her thanks into his ear. For now, for this morning… Then she was gone.

For the moment. He would see her again later this evening; he somehow needed to remind himself. 'Too close,' he scolded himself once more. As he walked back to his apartment, and entered his penthouse, he already knew what was waiting for him.

"Sanosuke."

*-*-*-*

"Now, Aoshi-kun, I'll be here to pick you up right after school, I promise," the little boy, with spiky black hair, looked up at his mother with pleading eyes. He wanted to stay at home with her, she knew, but she kissed him on the forehead. "Try to make some friends okay?"

"Be brave, lil' man," his father was there, and patted his head. His parents made him get a haircut before his first day of school, and he was not pleased about this at all. But his father only smiled and said that it would grow back before Aoshi could even miss it.

The little boy gazed up at his parents, who stood together, his father's arm around his mother's shoulders. Their faces beamed with pride, and his mother looked like she was about to cry. Aoshi put up a stiff upper lip, and tugged at his mother's dress.

" 'kaachan. I'll see you soon," he smiled softly for his mother. She nodded happily, looking up at her husband with unspoken words of pride at her son's motion to ease her worries. "I'll see you later 'touchan."

Before he walked into the door of his new classroom, which was bursting with noises of children's laughter and giggles, he peeked one last time at his parents. They were there waiting, and weren't going to leave until he was inside safely. Aoshi never forgot that warm feeling in his heart, and how safe he felt that day. When he could look up at this man… and this woman… and beam with pride when he called them mother and father.

He'd always remember, for it was the last time he would ever feel that way. About them. About life… About love.