Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Curl ❯ Chapter 27

It wasn't long after that Sanosuke found himself moseyin' back to the Akabeko with dancing boy - er, Yahiko. They hadn't really spoken, but remained in a companionable silence. Both were in their own little worlds, thinking about the only real problem guys their age ever really had.

'Women.' The taller boy's hands were shoved into his pockets, and the other had seemed to mimic him toe to toe. It was obvious he had unknowingly, and not too begrudgingly, adopted a little brother. '… whose girlfriend was pretty cute.' He smirked around the toothpick he'd picked up passing by a bento stand. Of course, along the way, he was putting together a couple of things… St. Catharine's. Tsubame. Misao. Skirts. All in all, this meant movement in the more nether regions of his person, be it the turning of his stomach with guilt, or… other things.

Beside him, Yahiko had different women troubles. Well, sure he had a girlfriend. A cute one, at that. It was just… with all the guys teasing him all the time, it felt as though he needed to prove something. Even though all the after school specials told him he didn't have to - everybody knows those shows are bullshit. Of course he had something to prove! It wasn't bad enough that he was smaller than most of the other guys, but when one of 'em happened to stumble onto his mother making dancing costumes for one of her recitals…

Well, the costume wasn't that bad, it was just that she had been using Yahiko has a living mannequin. That had been back in first year, but he had *yet* to live it down. No matter how many kendou tournaments he won, or how loud he'd yell… they still called him "dancing boy." Yahiko glanced up at the boy walking beside him. 'Sano prolly doesn't get teased,' he thought sullenly, chewing at his own toothpick. A guy who can have that much game couldn't get picked on, right? Right…

The two men-in-training parted ways in front of the Akabeko with a single nod, and went along their merry ways. Yahiko went back to visiting Tsubame - and probably getting one hell of an earful from Tae for his conduct before… and Sano went back to…

He suddenly stopped in front of a store window. Something had caught the corner of his eye, and drawn his face to the glass. There, in the window… there it was. It spoke, 'Misao.' And silently through that thin pane, it whispered 'buy me'… and since 'buy me a 'Misao' didn't compute, even in Sano's mind, he drew the conclusion that the ominous voice was telling him to 'buy Misao one of those.' Sanosuke figured it couldn't hurt - after all, he was *already* in trouble, right…?

Patting his wallet, which held the credit card for emergencies given to him by his ever beloved mother, he stepped into the store, flashing the female attendants his most charming smiles.

*-*-*-*

Sometime whilst Sanosuke and Yahiko wandered and pondered, Aoshi was cleaning up his bathroom. His jaw was clenched as he did so, as he usually never had to. Neat and meticulous meant for less clean up. However, none of these genes had been passed onto his brother, obviously. He hadn't been this upset in… well, in a *really* long time.

It wasn't the kind of upset that he would have with or at his father. It wasn't the upset he would get with or at his mother. This feeling was nothing so severe or intense.

It was the kind of anger you get when you wake up one morning, discover you're late for a class, run around in circles beside yourself, and show up… and find out it's been cancelled. Aoshi knew he was being childish, especially thinking of all the different ways he could throw Sano out the window. He knew it was hardly the adult way of dealing with things… Entertaining the ideas of going into Sano's room and messing everything up in *there* and seeing how *he* likes it…

Of course, Aoshi never lost his cool. He just took deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. … The bathroom was almost cleaned up, but there was still the problem of Sanosuke's dirty clothes. Picking them up from their place on their floor, he held them at arm's length. They didn't stink of sweat and grime so much as detergent and cleaning products. Frankly, Aoshi was scared about leaving Sano alone again tomorrow. He'd cleaned the place up so well, the only thing left for him to do would be mess it up.

He'd have to remember to get a new lock for his bedroom door.

*-*-*-*

Downstairs, Misao was coddling an all too contented puppy. She'd gone through the recycling and set some newspaper in the bottom of the roadie trunk, and set some of the pup's toys in it.

"Keitaro. How do you like that, hm?" She hoped that she'd have time to play with him with school and all. But anything would be better than leaving him with that… that… monster. Where are they finding people to fill these civil servant jobs now? There must've been some coalition of ex-convict military veteran… union or something. Misao involuntarily shuddered. That Gorou guy had just been way too creepy.

Picking up the pup, she introduced him to his new home. He raced around the small confined space, slowing down to sniff and inspect. The poor pup stumbled over his own toys here and there, but all in all, it didn't look like he had any huge objections.

The apartment was quiet now. The puppy settled down a bit, seemingly content with a brand new bacon strip. Misao sat back on the couch, and collapsed onto her side. Her head rested into a nearby cushion, and she felt drained. This pup was going to wear her out, that's for sure. But she didn't mind that… as much as the emotional turmoil that was pulling her in seventy different directions.

It was an unsettling subject that kept bubbling to the surface… 'Sanosuke.' It felt weird now, addressing him. Even silently, it sounded strange. When she called him by his full name, or by any nickname, all of them seemed strange and foreign now. 'Sanosuke' felt too impersonal and formal. 'Sano' was too off-handed, and in-passing. 'Sanonii' seemed too familiar and childish.

Being with him made her think about many things she would never admit to. Part of her, albeit still developing, was a woman. When she started dating, he laughed. He outright laughed. Was it so silly to believe that she could get a date? The only opinion she ever truly trusted was *his*. They told each other everything, they did so much together… and now they were hurting one another.

Or rather, it seemed he was doing most of it. He, as a guy, would never see that she was checking out all the girls he would 'conquer.' They were always so pretty, so perky, and so… womanly. It was only natural to compare. With their dresses, and their silky hair... They weren't drenched in sweat after beating the crap out of some guy twice their size, or throwing potentially deadly weapons at a straw target. They weren't breaking noses, and knocking teeth out…

It was no wonder no one wanted her… *that* way.

Kicking her feet up onto the couch, she rolled onto her back and stared blankly at the ceiling. With her arm draped across her forehead, she sighed, averting her gaze a moment. 'Soujirou.' He'd been the only one who seemed to notice she were alive… *that* way.

All of that was in the past now, though. The scars were there, but they were all going to heal… hopefully. Someday she'd feel attractive, and maybe even - heaven forbid - sexy. Someday.

… that day when she couldn't see all the faces and hear all the sounds of what was attractive to the only brother she ever knew.

*-*-*-*

"Ne, Misao-chan… don't you like milkshakes anymore?" the boy beside her tilted his head. It almost looked like his smile had disappeared, but the corners of his lips managed to stay afloat somehow. The concern in his eyes threatened to spill and drag them into a frown… but never did, of course. Even though it had been so long since they were a couple, Misao could still remember clearly every expression that presented itself in those eyes of his. Soujirou wasn't one to show many faces, but the key to his entire being was in his eyes, if one knew to look for it. For the moment, Misao took it as a misfortune that she was one of these miraculous people who could see past his smile and stare into his concern.

"… iya… guess I didn't want one as much as I thought I did," she tried to pass it off with a smile herself, but he obviously wasn't buying it. He twitched his nose at her, as if punctuating an unasked question. "There's nothing wrong…" And his eyebrow lifted, "*Really!*…" His blue eyes rolled up, and he let out a soft sigh, "… oh fine." He smiled.

'I hate it when he does that…' he could read her like a book now. It was almost as annoying as it was endearing. Now he just smiled, waiting for her to tell him what was wrong. They both leaned back on the park bench, one hand in the others, the other dangling behind the bench. 'A month… has it been that long?' She sighed, and then felt a lil' tug on one of her bangs.

Blinking, she saw herself staring at her boyfriend's face. He simply blinked back, she could almost *hear* a little shutter clicking as they did.

"Well, I was sparring with Sano earlier and-" She glanced at him. She knew what he was thinking. 'All of my problems are Sano-centric. I *know*… kami, please, Sou-chan… bear with me…' she pleaded silently, squeezing at his hand gently. His face hadn't changed from its pleasant demeanor, but she could read him, too. Not as well as he could read her, but she could. "… and I told him."

Soujirou flinched. 'Good thing I'm in track…' was all he could think. It wasn't that he didn't know she was connected to Sanosuke, or that Sano would be more than willing to bash his skull in if he knew… It's why they had decided to keep a super low profile. Soujirou could run, but he had little intention to start doing it for the rest of his life starting *now*. He laughed weakly, scratching the back of his head with his free hand… returning to lean back on the bench and stare up at the sky, he spoke, "So what did he say?"

"He laughed." Soujirou sputtered.

"Laughed??" His eyes widened as he spoke, raising a questioning eyebrow. After all, what was there to be laughed at? Was it like… maniacal laughter? "Before Freddy Krueger goes in for the slaughter" type thing?

"Yes. He laughed," Misao stated matter-of-factly. Part of her didn't want to tell him *why* Sano had laughed… while the other was trying *really* hard to keep a straight face. Glancing over Soujirou quickly, what Sanosuke said was slowly beginning to make sense. 'He is a little too pretty for a boy…' she bit the inside of her lip. If Jiya was her good conscience, than Sano must've been the devil on her other shoulder… It was *him* filling her head with these ideas… and the visions of her boyfriend in compromising male-male positions was far too tantalizing than could be at all comfortable.

"Doushita no? (How come?)" He was pouting, way too cutely, considering Misao's train of thought. And he obviously could see she was trying not to laugh either. "… Misaaaaao." He had this haunting way of drawing out her name, that was scolding, and yet you couldn't help but smile when he did it.

"… well… it's just that…" She held her breath to compose herself, and Soujirou had inched to the edge of the bench to hear. They sat close together, Misao sitting straight and staunch, and Soujirou leaning over close as if offering that she whisper it to him. "… he thinks you're gay."

Soujirou noted the ground wasn't as soft as it looked. Misao oddly wondered if this meant they weren't going to be making out later.

…

Naaahhh.

*-*-*-*

Back in the present, Aoshi came down the stairs, he glanced around almost worriedly. It was *far* too quiet. Had he still been living alone, this would be all too good and well. However, in recent times, it usually meant something was horribly horribly wrong.

The puppy was curled up snuggly into a corner of his trunk, and Misao was curled up snuggly on his couch. Right. So of course there's nothing wrong… the puppy's just napping… and Misao is staring up blankly at nothing as though the world just ended and she's having bittersweet memories of the mushroom cloud that started it all.

So, again, Aoshi went unnoticed. He went into Misao's backpack - something he wouldn't make a habit of doing - but, regardless. He went into the bag and pulled out the papers handed out by teachers, and all the cell phone gear. Putting Sano's stuff together, his dirty clothes, and his cell phone stuff, he rested those… well, he paused for a moment wondering *where* to rest the aforementioned items. He was not about to put Sano's laundry on any surface which was to be eaten upon, so the kitchen counter and the dining room table were out. The floor was out just out of principle…

Aoshi paused. He looked down at the clothes he had in his hand, and then at the girl on the couch. The clothes. The girl. Well then.

Misao found herself suddenly shrouded in darkness. And worse off, it smelled. Coughing and throwing off the obstruction, she gasped for air, trying to get away the lemony pine fresh with color guard scent out of her lungs. "WHAT THE -"

Quickly preventing Misao from continuing down the path of a veteran curser, Aoshi interrupted, "Sanosuke's."

"What are you dropping them on *me* for?" She looked exasperated, and strangely, full of life. That's better.

"You were there." It was true, she was. So what if he gave her a fourth grade answer? He shrugged, and turned away from her rather nonchalantly. Resting all the cell phone accessories in a neat array on the dining table, he counted the seconds until he heard feet stomping up behind him. 'One… two…'

"What's the big idea? Why not put them in *HIS* room rather than dropping them in *my* face?? And what are you doing with his laundry anyway? And why do they smell so - "

*-*-*-*

"I JUST CLEANED!!!" A fact which had shaken the occupants of the apartment in its truth, and now the serenity was shattered once more by the announcement of said miracle.

Sano had appeared in the doorway, his hand clutching the door, and the other the door's frame. It was as though he was clutching for dear life. Well, at least that explained the smell. That sure didn't explain all the other things… but Misao felt she was about to get all her answers, watching as Aoshi's hands planted firmly on his hips. She would've laughed if she didn't think comparing Aoshi to a scolding mother hen wasn't… well, a fatal and deadly mistake, especially if expressed out loud in anyway.

"You missed a spot," Aoshi stated flatly, snatching up the offending clothing that Misao had so generously returned to his general vicinity. Sano's eyes bugged open momentarily, as if knowing *exactly* where they came from and *exactly* what he was in for. So of course, he changed the subject.

"WHAT. IS. THIS." Sano had crossed the room and was staring at them wide-eyed and with an invisible stick up his ass. And in front of them he dangled a yellowish … hair?

"It looks like a hair to me… but perhaps I need a second opinion. Misao?" His brother always had a way of being far too melodramatic about these things.

"Yes, that sure looks like a hair to me…" she shrugged, and nodded looking rather carefree.

"I KNOW IT'S A HAIR!" Sano threw his hands up and raked them madly through his unruly hair. He was having a mental breakdown it seemed, or something that required grounding his teeth together to suppress a scream. Then he saw it. The puppy. Pointing accusingly at the innocent creature, he bellowed, "IT'S YOURS. ISN'T IT?!!"

Aoshi scratched his temple for a bit, and Misao raised both eyebrows. Did Sanosuke really expect the dog to answer? And that god-awful yelling… they considered him the way you would one of those guys who rant and rave to themselves on the street corner about how the sky is falling, and god is really an oyster in disguise.

"WHAT THE HELL IS A DOG DOING HERE?!! @!?#$#&!!..." the cursing streak went on for about a solid minute, spit included. Aoshi folded his arms across his chest, Sano's dirty clothes hanging from his finger tips. Misao folded her arms in a similar fashion, and looked up at the ceiling. When it looked as though Sano had finally landed back on *this* planet, Misao drew her attention back to him.

"His name is Keitaro," … this time Aoshi raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. She smiled and nodded.

"What a dumb name for a dog… wait, anyway, what the fuck's a dog doing here anyway? Where do you get off bringing a fucking dog home? You know how I fucking feel about fucking dogs, 'cause they fucking stink and they have fucking diseases and for fuck's sake…" Aoshi mentally counted on his fingers exactly how many times the f-word had been used in that one solitary statement, and then decided to speak - as he finally had the chance to.

"Are you allergic?" Aoshi knew there had been some bizarre reason in their childhood to why Sano didn't want a dog. He couldn't recall, but he thought it was the obvious thing… that he was allergic. But Sano wasn't violently coughing or sneezing or anything that seemed too much of an emergency.

"He's not," Misao said matter-of-factly. "It's just already so hard for him with *two* members of the household who have a higher IQ, that one more just broke him…"

"Don't you get smart with me, little lady! Where do you get off bringing a dog home?" He was waggling a finger in her face like she weren't just two years younger. It was almost annoying how he took advantage of his height like that.

"Where do you get off bringing a girl home?" Somewhere within her answered calmly, where the rest of her had the instinct to throttle him and scream "Baka Tori Atama!" Aoshi almost applauded her, for both bringing up something that he was going to eventually, second of all - scolding Sano for it so he wouldn't have to. She also managed to shut him up… Amazing. Simply amazing.

"It's got to go. Aoshi. This is no place for a dog."

Another "simply amazing" moment. Sano was appealing to reason. What the hell had happened to the world today? Misao briefly glanced between Sano and Aoshi, watching the silent power struggle continue. If this was their idea of sibling rivalry, why did she feel like she just dropped into the pilot for "My Two Dads."

Sano saw that it was more than obvious that his protests were being ignored on both counts. Seeking to Aoshi's reasoning wasn't working, and outright yelling at Misao hadn't worked… He crossed his arms as well, and … tried not to pout.

"Look, fine. But 'Keitaro'? C'mon, even *I* can do better than that," and with that, Sano got the reaction he finally wanted out of Misao. She looked like she was about to hit him. His Misao had been out of the picture for far too long… 'My … Misao?...'

"I think it's a good name! Ne, Aoshi-sama?" She looked over at him with large pleading eyes. They sort of looked like they were saying, "Pick me pick me! Pick me and it means Sano's wrong! If for no other reason pick me!" Aoshi shrugged slightly, causing Misao to pout. He hadn't *not* agreed with her, but it was just as good as saying "not really" or "I could care less."

Misao stomped her foot on the ground, balling her fists at her sides, "FINE. What would *YOU* name him?"

… Sano paused. He looked as though he were honestly thinking about it, with the whole of his being. His chin settled between his thumb and forefinger, and his brow knitted pensively… he looked over at Aoshi, and their eyes locked. Brown with steel blue. They were thinking the exact same thing, and spoke it at the exact same time.

"Okina." After the son of a bitch who put them here.

---

Author's Notes:

YES. That was painfully corny. ^_^; And sorry for the late update… I was kind of busy with school work. But classes end next Friday, woo hoo! There's still lots more coming up… and sorry again for the lateness. ;_;

Thanks to all of you who responded to my author's note that was … well, formerly here. ^_^; I uploaded over it on purpose, since it was acknowledged by all of my readers, who I respect and I've discovered respect me back. ^_^; Who knew?

I've also noticed myself falling into a pitfall that I've found happening a lot in longer fanfics, and it's that I'm losing the original flavor of my tone of writing. Sort of like it depreciates over time or something… Less funny, less serious, something. I'm trying really hard for my writing to not be affected by my enormous mood swings (^_^; heh) but anyone feel free to email me and stuff. I mean, I honestly haven't worked out a big ending or finale… just that I've planned for certain things to happen, and I just have to *get* there. I guess this is more like a prime time drama than anything, huh? ^_^;