Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Curl ❯ Chapter 30

After having a quick shower and slipping into a pair of dark burgundy silk pajama pants, Aoshi went about doing some last minute preparations for the following day. He brought up his leather briefcase from beside his desk and rested it on his desk beside his shutdown laptop. When he arrived at the office the next morning, Omasu would've already hard on the case to collect the information he sought. Okon would have already sent the cell phone numbers of Sano and Misao to their respective parental units. As he packed his briefcase, he was sourly reminded that real life would begin the following day.

Granted, today wasn't the greatest either, as he was confronted with damn near every skeleton that his closet bore. Tomorrow he would have to recall his senses and quell all of those odd ended 'emotions' as they called them. He'd had far too many a rendezvous with those in the recent past. The other end of the apartment hadn't made any more crashes or slams since that initial one before he hopped into the shower.

He wasn't quite sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign. Zipping his briefcase shut, and closing his eyes as well, he decided with new resolve that he would stay out of it. Misao spelled trouble, and Sanosuke was it incarnate. With any luck they'll cancel each other out, preferably without killing one another. Otherwise Aoshi would be stuck having to see his mother at their funeral.

On that sick and selfishly twisted note, Aoshi felt the cold creep back into his system as he strode toward his bed to do some reading. His system had been introduced to the warmth of care, and the human embrace, all in these short four days. It had to be stopped.

*-*-*-*

In the other end of the apartment, tension was still thick, and eerily silent. Sano hopes had ridden vainly when he felt Misao's slender digits curl around his pinky finger as it rested on her shoulder. He saw it as a sign of truce, of resolution. However, it was just a motion to remove her shoulder from his hold. His arms dropped limply at his sides as his chocolate brown eyes sought some sort sign, anything that would reassure him things between them were okay now. The problem was out in the open now, right? That was half of making things better, wasn't it? It sure as hell didn't feel like it.

She wasn't at all that comfortable right now with him touching her for some odd reason. Perhaps the fact that she knew where his hands had been was urking her just the tiniest bit. She'd never responded to him this way, never turned him away. It even frightened her the littlest bit. Why did things have to change… You think if you watch enough movies, or enough TV that you know all the ins and outs of what it is to be a teenager. Things always work out, the girl gets the guy, everybody can be friends again, and everyone goes along their merry way. Finding that her knees didn't want to stand for very much longer, Misao settled herself against the wall in the pillows of her bed.

Sano was aware, as opposed to actually watching, as Misao curled up around a pillow seeking comfort from the feathery tuft. He was sitting on the corner of the bed, just able to catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye. Hunched over, with his elbows on his knees, he swiped his hands over his face. If he could just go over there, hug her, and make things okay, he would. If he thought that would work, he'd do it. If he thought he'd leave this room that way with the least amount of bruises possible, he would. He'd just crawl up Misao's bed, drag her to his chest and hold her for all that he was worth. It worked all the time when they were kids.

But they weren't kids anymore. 'She's not a kid anymore…' he swallowed a new lump that formed in his throat. Blinking at nothing, he recalled what was in his pocket. He'd seen it in the store window that day, and all he could really see was Misao. Any other day, before today, he would've never have thought to buy her such a thing. Maybe kunai, or he'd get her something like Epson's salts for her feet as a joke. But those were gifts for Misao the figher, and Misao the kid sister. Both of which he had always felt responsible for, day in and day out, whether she would've ever asked for it.

Misao watched, almost intently as Sano withdrew something from his pocket and began turning it over in his fingers. He looked lost. She'd seen so many sides of Sano since they'd moved here, it was surprising that anything else would shock her now. But Sanosuke looked… pitiable. The muscles in his back were tensing and moved slowly with his calculated breathing. Each muscle in his arm moving ever so slightly as his fingers took the most delicate care of whatever he was holding. It was like she was watching the synapses from his brain sending messages to his fingers from muscle to defined muscle. She never had to look so closely at Sano before, and it was… well, it was unnerving was what it was. Her head jerked suddenly when she jumped when he looked like he was coming towards her.

He stopped. The often smooth Sagara Sanosuke, was doing a crappy job of being stealth. He was hoping he could just sort of inch over there, and hand it to her with some whispered words of acknowledgement of the girl… woman… female she'd become. However, he was only succeeding in ruffling her bedding a bit and throttling himself into further feelings of self doubt. If it had been anyone else in the whole wide world, it would have been easier. Anyone at all under the fucking sun -

What either of them would've given to read the others mind.

*-*-*-*

Something was wrong. It was in the air. He could feel it. It was why he couldn't concentrate on a single word he was reading. Aoshi soon found himself sweating in his not-so-cheap silk pajama pants, doing practice kata on his carpet. It was in the air.

He'd felt this way with her. When he'd upset her earlier, without realizing it. He'd presumed too much about their relationship. 'Relationship.' So many definitions of the word… Aoshi wasn't quite sure if he wanted to dwell on that and pick it apart yet. But then he could so clearly remember how he had rounded that corner to follow her, and found her with… that… 'Seijurou.' Aoshi's expression never changed, but his teeth ground together behind his mask. He just kept solace that she was in chemistry with that midget bald guy. Not because he would assume that a little large headed mustached man wouldn't make advances towards the pretty young female, it was just that Misao would easily be able to take him if he were ever to try anything… Surely, her chemistry teacher would be a safe bet.

But he'd seen how she looked at *him*. That teacher. The same way many of his former classmates had looked at his quote-unquote "counselor." Misao would consider it, as he considered - he nearly laughed. 'Sanjou-sensei.' He hadn't called her that since before they began their tryst. No, Aoshi was glad that she was taking chemistry, but that guaranteed nothing. His hand fisted and then cut through the way with unspeakable grace. Finishing another masterful combination of kicks and punches, he took a readied stance on the floor. Aoshi's feet were planted firmly on the floor, just over shoulder's width, his knees bent to achieve the proper balance. Shifting his footing slightly against the soft carpet, he found that the silk was sticking to him in places he would rather have it not brush against. Sweat had a habit of doing that. He tried to ignore it.

It wasn't easy either. He never found it so difficult to focus before. It had to be that upset in 'the force' that all those Star Wars' folk always talk about. Or the fact that he had the images of his tryst combined with the ideas of Misao participating in such activity added to the reality that silk has a way of awakening the more sensitive nerves of his anatomy. This just prompted him to become more furious in his exercise, to force all of these… *feelings* out of his mind.

But no matter how many times his limbs sliced through the space around him in liquid movements, he couldn't shake the feeling. Something was wrong. Or something was about to happen. 'Expect the unexpected.'

Yeah, since he'd been doing *such* a great job at that so far.

*-*-*-*

Minutes ticked by. And through the fury that bubbled through her veins, Misao couldn't help but be just a tad curious. It looked like a box. And she would guess it was for her, as Sano probably wouldn't walk around half naked in sweatpants with a velvety box in his pocket for no reason. All the while he was drawing closer to her on the bed. Granted, he was doing it very slowly and being uncharacteristically clumsy about it, but he was coming closer.

The silence was unnerving. Even Pochi could feel it, and he started to pace back and forth in his trunk. If for no other reason, he was stressed because he couldn't see his owner and that… tall spiky guy was upsetting her. For first impressions, Sano wasn't on the pup's good side.

Sano was only partly oblivious to Misao curling into a tighter ball as he inched closer. This was not how he practiced it. About half way along the side of the bed he stopped, wiggling his toes into the carpet. 'SAGARA. Be a man. Men give women things… other than sex,' he would have grinned at that thought under normal circumstances, however, this was just not the time. Suddenly a gripping fear clenched over his heart. Everything had gone wrong so far, what if she didn't like it? What if she just threw her head back and laughed at him and called him a sap?

Well, anything was better than this. Just having her stare at him with the hurt swimming in those indigo pools was unsettling. There was another awkward pause. Misao was looking at him, he was looking at the gift, and Pochi was whining because he couldn't see anything.

"Shut up ya damn mutt!" Sano blurted out, taking out his confusion on the poor pup. Did Pochi relent? No, he barked as fiercely as a puppy could. Growling back at the furball, he started to get up and stalk towards the trunk. He pushed up on a free hand, the velvet box in the other as he turned to stand up, but once he was up he stopped. Something was wrong. Something was… missing? He offered up his empty hands to himself and blinked.

"Ne, what's this?" Misao had lurched forward and used her weasel skills to snatch the box from him in his fleeting anger at her puppy. Then she settled back into where she had been, but seemingly more relaxed. Sano looked at her over his shoulder, and felt all his tension relax all at once. It was the Misao he knew, the girl he…

'Well of course I love her, she's like my sister,' he reinforced silently in his head. Whether all of him was currently agreeing with the stance, it was what would stand for now, and that was that, godammit. But besides that, he felt almost goofy as he had to somehow explain himself. He posed to match his feeling of overall silliness by scratching the back of his head, and looking away sheepishly.

"It's just this thing that I saw when I was at this place, see…" Oh the great Sagara genius shines. Misao cocked her head to the side, and looked up at him. There was nothing but curiosity in those bright eyes. 'It WORKED?!' He was suddenly impressed with himself, and puffed his chest out, planting both hands on his hips. "Well, I just thought y'know since you're… uhm…" The cool was running out, and he scratched his cheek searching for words.

Misao slowly opened the little box, and gasped. "YOU bought these?" Sano couldn't help but wince at her patronizing tone of disbelief. She looked totally mesmerized as she looked into the box at the shining sapphire stud earrings. Swallowing slowly, she glanced up at Sano and back down at them, "… f-for me?"

'No, I bought them for the *other* blue-eyed girl who lives with me, spent her whole life with me, and was mad as fucking hell at me,' his face contorted and he looked up at the ceiling as he tried to hold his tongue. Actually *thinking* before he spoke, he dropped back onto his seat on the bed, temporarily forgetting his furry nemesis. "Yeah well… they just… made me think of you, I guess…" he stumbled over his words, feeling cliché, as he twiddled his thumbs. Suddenly he broke back into character when he heard her stifle a giggle, "Don't you get used to this or nothing! I'm not gonna run out and empty my wallet every time I do something stupid!"

Lucky for his wallet, huh?

*-*-*-*

Aoshi tripped over his own foot for the first time in… well, a really long time. It was gone. Just like that, as if that uneasy feeling had been a wisp of smoke. Suddenly the unsettling feeling had just left him, and he felt himself become relaxed by his movements, finally. That rift in the force is a fickle thing.

===

Author's Note:

Yeah sorry, that was a short chapter, but I thought it was a good place to cut it off. ^_^; Reviews super welcome and encouraged. Emails and stuff also welcome for longer messages and criticisms/corrections. (Remember, a lot of these chapters were never beta-read. @.@;)