Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Curl ❯ Chapter 11

Sanosuke hadn't shown up for dinner. He'd been gone the whole day since that confrontation with his brother, and they'd heard nothing from him. 'Note to self: Arrange for cell phones.' With his absence, Sano unknowingly put Aoshi in quite a bind: eating alone with Misao, the woman.

*-*-*-*

Sanosuke hadn't shown up for dinner. She hadn't seen him since the incident that morning. It made her homecoming quite awkward, she'd even threatened to knock on his door. When Misao got no answer, she saw that he was no where in sight, but that there were the remnants of what was once a glass embedded in the wall, with shards glistening in the carpet. Sighing to herself, figuring that the mess was partially her fault, she thought it wouldn't hurt if she were the one to clean it up. The venture left three of her fingertips in band-aids.

Aoshi had said nothing, nor did he have to. She didn't know what she wanted him to say anyway, although, she wasn't a big fan of silence.

"Aoshi-sama?" He stopped what he was doing, resting his utensils on the sides of his plate. Straightening up his posture, he gazed at her full on. The incline of his head pointed out that some time had passed, and she remembered how to talk, "… so… I guess you're going to walk me to school again tomorrow?"

"Aa," he continued with his meal mechanically. 'Same bat time, same bat channel.' He saw her nod in the corner of his eye, noting she had hardly touched her food. Taking a deep breath, "So how was your day at school?" He tried to pull it off in his normal monotone, hoping it won't sound half as trite. By the manner in which Misao sulked into her chair, he was taking this as not a very good sign. "It looked like a very nice campus." No, he was not the conversationalist.

"Hai, it is," and apparently, tonight, neither was she. Recalling something known as "food," and the utensil known as a "fork," she decided to take these two memories and put them to good use. 'Where is that baka…'

*-*-*-*

"BAKA TORI ATAMA!" An twelve-year-old Misao-chan screeched as she skidded into her room and slammed the door, and locked it with a flick of her wrist. She stumbled over to her bed, and dove her head under the pillow. Her small hands pushed on the sides of the soft cushion, as if to muffle out the whole world.

"Dammit, Misao, open this door before I break it down!" Sano's heavy fist came pounding on her bedroom door. Well, it was heavy for a fifteen-year old. Physically, he had matured rather quickly, already rather tall, and testosteronal. The young boy pulled up his sleeves, and took a couple steps back… With a feral growl he put all his force behind his right side as he used it as a battering ram. "I TOLD you I was sorry so fucking open this door…!!"

"NO! YOU PROMISED!" Her voice echoed in her room and right into the hallway, as she hugged her pillow to her. Sitting in the middle of her bed, she glared daggers at the door, gripping to her pillow like it was life itself. Mumbling, as her voice began to quiver, talking more to herself than to the outraged boy at the other side of the door, "… y-you promised…"

His arm smarted, so he tried to reason with her. "Look, Misao, next year - no, next time we get have a break we can -" Why couldn't she understand? ... All his friends were going, so he *had* to go. It was just a ski trip.

"NO!" A very indignant scream came from through the door. Sano pushed up his sleeves once more, with his eyes burning bright.

"DAMMIT FINE!" Then the door came crashing down, hinges, Sano, and all.

Later that night, Sanosuke was stirred out of his slumber. A light came into his room suddenly, just the soft glow of a light down the hall… he squinted, shading his eyes with his freshly donned cast. Maybe if he knew before hand that human beings weren't built to be battering rams, he could've avoided having to wear it at all. "Weasel? What the hell are you doing here?"

The small girl leaned up against the door frame, a delicate silhouette. She was in her night clothes, and hugging her teddy bear. "Sano-nii'…" her voice cracked, she was crying. "… gomen nasai…" Sano smacked his forehead with his un-casted hand, dragging up the covers with the fingertips of the other. The girl started to come to him, and hesitated.

"Oh good kami, get your ass in here so I can get what lil' sleep I can, for bloody's sake," He covered his eyes, swiping his face with his hand with an over exaggerated groan. Misao-chan started up again, and once she was within arms reach, Sano got fed up with this stop-and-go fiasco and yanked her into bed. Since he obviously couldn't go on the ski trip with fractures in his arm, and a twisted ankle, Jiya opted that he might stay with them, as was originally intended for his vacation.

The smaller form fit well against Sano's larger one, curled up with her teddy into his chest. She started sniffling again, "… gomen ne, you really wanted to go…"

"Look. If I have to change out of wet pajamas, there's going to be hell to pay. So stop it, right now," his voice was stern, but she knew better. He smiled in the dim light down at the pig-tailed girl that had invaded his premises. When she stopped shaking with sobs, and was only sniffling, he gently stroked her back, "There. That's more like it. Now go to sleep for crying out loud."

Misao-chan stifled a giggle into her teddy bear, when Sano groaned and cursed. She peeked up at him, to see him gazing back at her.

"Shh. I'm not going anywhere, go to sleep." She nodded into his chest, and slowly drifted off to sleep. The elder boy did as well, so neither noticed when a smiling old man closed the bedroom door.

*-*-*-*

That night, Misao had slept lightly, telling herself it wasn't because she was waiting up for Sanosuke. Though when the magic stroke of midnight tolled, she heard the jingling of keys, and clumsy stumbling across the floor. Dragging herself out of bed, rather than meet him outside, she thought an 'accidental' meeting in their communal bathroom would be easier to deal with.

Still half asleep, she sat on the toilet, did her thing… then looked over herself in the mirror. Grabbing some dental floss, she went about some dental hygiene. She hardly ever remembered to floss, so now's a good a time as any. Misao froze, however, with a mint string dangling from between her teeth. She inched every closer to the room to Sano's bedroom, without realizing it.

'Masaka…' the sounds of the toilet flushing were subsiding, and she distinctly heard two voices. One of which was not male. She yanked the floss from her teeth, almost wincing as she did. Before she realized, she was sinking to her knees, with her hands against his door, listening, and hoping it wasn't true.

No, she wasn't hearing the slurred utterances of "Shh" or "Is anybody else home?"… Could she possibly smell the alcohol from where she was? The stabbing feeling in the back of her chest wished that drunks were better at whispering.

*-*-*-*

"Nah dun worry 'bout it…" Sanosuke was thoroughly soused, and so was his lady friend. He had just barely made it into his bedroom, and shut the door. Holding himself up against the wall, he was frantically trying to catch his breath. For the past twenty minutes, give or take, on and off, his mouth was occupied by one tongue more than usual. A cute lil' lonely brunette had 'followed him home' from school that day, and was apparently quite fond of taking to the bottle… almost as much as he was. Especially today.

"Good…" Her lips collided with his, drowning out her voice and his throaty groan. Did she have a name? Pfft, didn't matter anyway. The tingling sensation in his loins was enough to numb the day's events, and intensified as the woman fumbled with his belt, dragging his pants out of her way. From the moment he'd got her to the building, he'd gone through all the usual motions. Having wined, and dined, he was going to get laid. His mind was up in the clouds, indulging in a lifeless void, while his body - back on earth - was busy with getting head.

*-*-*-*

Misao's eyes shut tightly; she didn't know why she couldn't move. She didn't want to hear this. The moans were bad enough, but then the zipper. She'd heard enough of Sanosuke's exploits to know exactly what was going on, and right under her own nose. Under the same roof. Her hands fisted, threatening to pound down the door, like he had that one night when they were young… Just to reach him. Like he had tried to reach her.

She felt like she was acting like a spoilt little child. Wishing his days belonged to her and her alone, although, all the while knowing they didn't. It was always about her.

But apparently this woman… whoever she was… knew more than she. Obviously, since she was putting his pleasure in front of hers. The way she gasped for air, and came down again, Misao could see, almost smell it… through her alcohol-caked nasal passages, and the tears crushed between her eyes and their lids.

*-*-*-*

"Fuck…" he gasped, as he dragged her head away. It was like he'd done this so many times, he could function on auto-pilot. Self-preservative auto-pilot. Fumbling in his pocket, and then fishing into his wallet, he handled a small foil package. He tossed his wallet under the bed, far away enough that her shorter arms wouldn't be able to reach under and grasp it. This man wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

The woman seemed to mewl and purr as she snatched the condom from him, as if more eager to cap it onto him than he was. It seemed that the contraceptive clicked a couple of buttons in his brain, though rather than taking the memories all back into account, he just remembered the rage. Lucky for him, she liked it rough.

*-*-*-*

Misao threw herself from the door when it began to shake. Her face contorted as the moans reverberated through the door, and then she knew they were there. Right on the other side of that thin panel of wood, Sano was… with…

Her hand flew over her mouth; suddenly feeling like her stomach would try to escape through it. Misao probably would have vomited to, but part of her didn't want to reveal that she was there. That she could hear. And see. And smell… Tears spilled from her eyes as she crawled under the sink, hugging her knees to her, trapping her head in between. Slowly, she rocked back and forth, retreating into herself, trying to think of the noxious fumes finding their way through the cracks of the door.

*-*-*-*

Round one was over. Her legs limply circled his hips, while they both panted in vain to fill their lungs with air. Sano had been holding both of their weights, bracing himself against the door as he had thrust into her mercilessly. He let his forehead sink to rest on the door's face, resting on one arm. Pulling her chin up with his free hand, he inspected her. Passed out, go figure. Brain having yet to function quite yet, he maneuvered to comfortably detach himself from his latest appendage. He rolled under her, turning them both around… allowing himself a moment, to rest his side, as well as hers, against the door. Then sobriety hit him like a ton of bricks, much like his hang over would tomorrow. He could hear her.

Crying.

"… Misao…"