Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Curl ❯ Chapter 32

Misao was utterly perplexed. She could rationalize Sanosuke not being awake when she was up, but Aoshi still in bed at this hour? Classes, as in, her *actual* classes, began today. It was a hard choice - whether to be excited or completely irked by the idea. 'Note to self: Switch to physics,' with that in mind, she found herself smiling and nodding to herself. Pausing a moment, recalling her first meeting with Hiko-sensei, she amended her previous thought by adding, '… and don't tell Aoshi-sama.'

Secrets *always* led to trouble. But, Misao could recall where the truth didn't do much good either. Skimming over a mini-to-do list in the back of her mind… She would totally have to call Kaoru and tell her about her day, she was sure of it. Hell, she already had a gazillion things to tell her as it was. Turning her gaze from the kitchen counter, she looked towards the beautiful view. The skies were clear, and it looked like it was going to be a great day. However, there was an odd… nagging feeling that took her when she woke up that morning.

Not that that had anything to do with waking to the less than pleasant smell of doggy droppings. She had cleaned up after the puppy, and let him run loose for a little while. Sano's penance was to watch over the pup while she was at school. Misao grinned evilly, because that was only the beginning. She wondered if Sano was aware of the amount of times puppies relieved themselves.

When she had followed Pochi into the kitchen, it was then she discovered that Aoshi could not have been awake. Nothing had moved since dinner the night before. Well, Misao reasoned, either Aoshi wasn't awake or he had gotten up and left really early.

This brought a pout to her lips, but only briefly. She'd gotten into the habit of their morning breakfasts, and their dinners. It was just their routine. And wouldn't Aoshi have left a note? Said something? Not that she was his mother or anything, but it just felt… strange.

'Maybe he's sick… maybe he went to work already?..' sighing inwardly, she glanced at the clock. It was quarter past seven, and she *knew* Sanosuke wouldn't be up yet. And he better believe he was going to walk her to school today, carry her books, and pack her lunch. Grinning widely, she thought of a perfect way to wake up her 'niichan.

She kept telling herself this was the only way, so she wouldn't be late for her eight-thirty classes. She couldn't very well let *that* happen, now could she?

*-*-*-*

"Oh that's how I like it…" Sano purred dreamily as the mystery woman ran her slender fingers along his body. He loved dreaming, it was the next best thing to real life. And as he was aware that he won't be getting any for a while under the iron fist the Misao-jurisdiction, he let the three faceless beauties lavish him with affection.

He was lying more than contented as he was pillowed by a lovely kissable, squeezable pair of breasts. Making a note to attend to those later, he watched as one girl went down on him, after bickering with the third at who would get to first. 'It is good to be the king,' he grinned to himself.

His third beauty was pouting, though, none of his fantasy women really had faces he could remember in the morning. Although, Sano chose to selectively ignore that a lot of them lately had a massive amount of hair, and usually in the form of a braid. He couldn't *see* the pout but - It was more a vibe she was giving out. Sano was, by no means, psychic, but this was his dream after all. So he would neglect her no longer! Sanosuke was valiant and gallant like that. Sturdily securing the woman by the waist, he pulled her over till she was almost lying on top of him. There were some muttered protests by the third woman, whose mouth was full as she was currently sucking on him, but hey. He was equal opportunity, so people would just have to make room for others and share like good little harem girls. Diplomacy kicks.

It was while the girl hovering over him began bathing his neck and chin in little tiny licks that he *wanted* to moan… but something about her smelled like… dog. She had dog breath.

DOG BREATH?!

*-*-*-*

Aoshi hadn't tried at all to get back to sleep. He was far too disturbed. Instead he surfed the web, in hopes of some consolation… That perhaps WebMD would be able to tell him how many Freudian complexes he currently had. There had to be something In the category of having fantasies about your ex-cross-dressing-roommate, your for-all-intensive-purposes sister, your rooster-headed half-brother, a gruff physics teacher, and the woman of your eternal torment... and all topped off by his *parents*. There had to be something.

Oedipus had *nothing* on this man right now. That guy just screwed his mother, but Aoshi was having *serious* issues.

Aoshi didn't even really pay attention to the time as it sped by. He tried everything to keep his mind off of… the dream. It had been some time since a women looked up at him with those pleading lustful eyes, begging him to sate her wants. And the fact the face was coupled with Misao's face was sending him spiraling into self-loathing.

The fact that it also had an inkling of Kamatari's feminine features seeping through made him want to go spiraling off a cliff. Not to mention the image of Hiko's face twisting with unspeakable pleasures.

Aoshi promptly dry-heaved.

Then sounds from downstairs erupted. Literally. Sanosuke sounded like a bomb had just gone off in his room, and Misao was squealing like a banshee, all of these joined with the sounds of a yapping Pochi.

It was twenty past seven in the morning, and Aoshi needed a drink. Massaging the bridge of his nose as he strode over to the door, he had every intention of laying down the law. Funnily, he didn't even have to flash his death glare at either one of them to silence them. They were silent the moment he stepped out of his bedroom.

Sanosuke and Misao somehow managed to hear Aoshi's door open through their wails and banter. It had to do something with the fact that it was that forbidden place that they weren't supposed to enter… So anything that concerned it drew immediate attention. They were shocked into silence at Aoshi's state.

"Aoshi-sama… you look…" was all Misao could muster.

"… like shit," Sano pointed out nonchalantly. The younger sibling scratched the back of his head idly, taking in the image of his brother. "Rough night?"

Aoshi still had a soft sheen from the various night sweats he'd incurred the night before, and his pajama pants were flirting dangerously below his hips. His hair was mussed and Misao could feel the gears turning within her hormones. Her jaw, which had been listlessly hanging open, snapped shut when something occurred to her. 'He couldn't have had… a guest?' If her eyes could bug out of her sockets further, they would have as a faint rouge appeared on the bridge of her nose.

From Sanosuke's point of view, he'd seen his brother in the aftermath of such events. Although it had been by accident, and provided much hilarity in future encounters, Sanosuke had stumbled upon his elder brother climbing out of one side of his bed while Aoshi's girlfriend at the time was climbing out of the other. That would've been the exact date Aoshi threatened to beat the boy within an inch of his life if he ever forgot to knock again. With that train from memory lane in mind, Sano didn't have to have photographic recall to know that Aoshi after sex didn't look like he was nursing a migraine the size of Mt. Fuji.

However, Sano *did* know what Aoshi looked like after nightmares. Cursing himself for being out of characteristically brotherly, he motioned Misao into the kitchen with a swift motion. He knew what Misao was thinking, and frankly she knew way too much about the sex lives of her elders right now to *not* be thinking what he thought she was thinking… and thinking that, he was thinking that she had to be thinking of him thinking that - 'It is way too fucking early for this shit.'

"Fix some grub, while I get ready to walk ya to school, brat," he said plainly, knocking Misao out of her reverie. Smacking his lips together, swirling the bacterial residue around his mouth. He held his hand in front of his face, and checked his breath - bad idea. Sano winced, but exchanged a look with his brother out of the corner of his eye. Misao was busying herself doing what she was told - for once, though her motives were to focus on anything but Aoshi's physique - and so Sano went off to do what he said he was going to do.

Aoshi almost smirked, partially annoyed by the fact that some part of him had to admit that Sano *knew* him as a real brother would, and shook his head a bit, retiring back to his quarters, not noticing the puppy that slipped in with him. Unknowingly accompanied by a cuddly fur ball, Aoshi went about getting ready for work as if it were just any other day.

The routine he had developed over many years, all of a sudden seemed foreign and… empty. Aoshi grunted as he was bombarded by streams of cold water, that steadily grew warmer and then scalding.

Today was just another birthday of real life.

*-*-*-*

One of Aoshi's hands had his fingertips picking at the corner of the file folder in front of him, as the other was twirling a pencil. The third one for the day, in fact. The man known as Hiko Seijurou turned out to have some kind of a wrap sheet, it appeared. However, the fact that this same school admitted drag queens to teach, Aoshi couldn't say he was that surprised. Although, Aoshi did discover exactly how he knew this man's name.

He hadn't arrived to the office until just a little before nine. Oftentimes, he was the first one there… Then again, oftentimes, he hadn't had wet dreams about seemingly random assortments of people. His well kept stubs for fingernails were digging into the innocent number two pencil. But his expression never changed, contrary to his disordered, disturbed, and currently delicate state of mind.

Sitting down in his plush office chair, storing whatever his secretaries were bantering on about into the back of his head for later use, he was consumed in his current investigation. The women made their leave, leaving a hefty sum of paperwork on his desk. Aoshi plucked a picture from the file he had been looking at, a police report about a bar brawl, featuring none other than the mystical Hiko Seijurou, or the kendou artist formerly known as Kakunoshin Niitsu.

Honestly. He didn't know exactly what bothered him more, the fact that Hiko had given off the aura of an adversary, or the fact that he had touched Misao. He'd touched Misao more than *Aoshi* had ever touched Misao at that point. Misao had hugged *him*, Misao had pounced on *him*. Though, perhaps Aoshi was getting too technical. But regardless! This was injustice that had to be dealt with, immediately. The man invaded his dreams for pete's sake, not to mention Misao's personal space. There had to be some rule against teachers touching their students in such a casual manner. There had to be. Those hands had lingered on her shoulders for far too long.

Without realizing it, Aoshi had snapped another pencil in half. He was bombarded with the casual advances that… *woman* made towards him. Brushing her hand into his hair when he divulged his father's drinking problem to her, giving to her everything she greedily wished to take. She wanted his surrender, his submission, and whatever was left of his innocence. That's how it started. It started on the border of sin. Just the feather light touch, the kiss to the forehead, the slender fingers running along his shoulder blades… Then it became a spiraling affair that ruined her career, and the life of her family. There was a pang for the girl. 'Tsubame-chan,' he recalled sadly, almost frowning outwardly. Oddly, he had much in common with the girl. Their mothers were sluts.

Shaking his head, he tried - honestly tried - to not steer that bitter angry route. He would never admit to liking what his mother did, nor did he acknowledge any ties that weren't scientifically based… However, the woman was also Sanosuke's mother. So Aoshi made the difficult attempt to try and respect her as that, if nothing else. Not because he was becoming more attached to the jerk, or anything. 'course not.

Time? Almost half past ten. And Aoshi still needed that drink. He'd been going through this information, shifting through a good dozen of civil complaints, disturbance of the peace, driving under the influence, lewd behavior, indecent exposure… No wonder he was booted off the Tokyo University team. Aoshi recalled coming across the name before, the man had been somewhat of a running annual champion. As Aoshi would've guessed, and read on the paper in front of him, "Hiko-sensei" brought more blight than fame to the university's reputation. Needless to say, they cut him loose a year earlier than his degree required. Though, somehow, the man had weaseled his way to still having all the credits towards being an educator of young minds.

It's a sick sad world, really. Apparently, the man was working on his dissertation. Something about the physical manifestation of the human fighting spirit whilst in battle. Even published a book and a couple essays… Most well known being his essay entitled "101 Ways for People to Worship You." A self-help guide to egotism, not to mention some of the obvious sexual annotations that Okon seemed *necessary* to point out in the margins of the copied text.

Fantastic. No wonder they'd been able to collect so much information in such little time. They'd *wanted* to do it. His secretaries had the hots for a man he wanted to murder. Okay, "murder" is a strong word… Aoshi would settle for amputating a few choice appendages. And here he'd been honestly considering giving them a raise. Now, he was inching closer to switching to Maxwell House. 'Hah. See how they like *that*…' No more chai lattes, ladies.

Before Aoshi could allow himself jumping off of *that* cliff again, he tried to focus on the task at hand. He was Misao's guardian. It was his job, his duty. He had every right to intervene in her schooling, particularly *who* schooled her. That was enough rational logical for him to continue with his investigation into Hiko Seijurou. Aoshi would focus on this project, and then move to the next. This was work. Work will set him free, if he just buried himself deep enough into it.

And then he could settle this Honjou Kamatari matter, which would be the file sitting next in line for his perusal, along with the work that backed up in his absence the past two days.

This was work. This was good. This was normal.

This made him forget the empty loneliness that he had always neglected to address the real issues.

*-*-*-*

Around noon, a phone call from Sanosuke had Aoshi running home in the blink of an eye. His secretaries called after him in vain, inquiring the cause of emergency. When Aoshi arrived at his building, he'd recomposed himself, mostly before he walked in to be met by the smirking visage of his younger half brother. He was really not liking that look on his face, and was extremely tempted to deck him for it - however, due to his actions as a brother this morning, he would excuse this single indiscretion. Or he thought he would.

"Told you this was a mistake, I told you that this was a bad idea, I told you -" Sano was talking cryptically. This was worse. It meant that he either had a long time to prepare, or that there was a lot of fuel for the fire. Or at least, the little eight watt light bulb that Sano called a brain. Aoshi watched as Sano pointed a finger to his room.

'THAT'S the emergency?' Aoshi thought incredulously. Now Sano was skidding on thin ice. The boy had called the office on his cell phone, and said nothing but, "Aoshi. We need you at home, right away." He'd thought something had happened… seriously happened. Now it was looking like something to do with the plumbing or something. What was Sanosuke doing in or about his room *again* anyway? Had he not learned his lesson?

Then again. Considering the past couple of days, *anything* could've happened. He not-so-gently grabbed Sanosuke by the arm, escorting him up to the room in question. He had to keep him at arms' length so he could judge the magnitude of the pain he was going to inflict in accordance to the amount of stupidity and wasted time would be invested into this venture.

However, Aoshi was distracted instantaneously upon entering his bedroom. His hand dropped off of Sano's arm. He couldn't see as his brother leaned against the door frame, with his arms crossed, smiling all smug. "I told you… I warned you… I was telling you for your own sake… Did you listen to me? Nooooo…"

"That's enough," Aoshi said glaring over at his brother. Sanosuke shrugged, doing a terrible job of holding back a chuckle. Sanosuke excused himself from the room formerly known as Aoshi's, but just before closing the door behind himself he called over his shoulder:

"NOW do you see why I never wanted a dog?" Aoshi struck out towards his brother, but hit nothing but door. The painted made a loud protesting crack against his fist. Damn that boy'd gotten quick. Looking over the disarray of his former sanctuary, and there was Pochi… sitting in a puddle of his own excrement in the middle of his bed, wagging his tail as if he'd just brought in the morning paper. Sano only added to his troubles with echoing laughter filling the whole apartment.

The dog had to go. If for no other reason than… Misao would never forgive him if he outright killed it. The puppy's tail stopped wagging, as it suddenly grew well aware of the faint feral gleam in the man's eyes. It was one of those funny moments where a person could appreciate the brain capacity of an animal, because they had a look about them where they obviously have become aware of having done wrong, and had their proverbial fingers crossed that they'd get away with it.

Pochi would, for sure. Aoshi would be more than pleased to let him use his Ralph Lauren bedding as toilet paper, or his Gucci ties as dental floss. He would allow any dog, or flea beckoning animal to do so.

All animals carrying a charge card, insurance, and had a damn good lawyer, anyway. He gave the pup some credit, after all, for one so small, he could cause a hell of a lot of damage. This vaguely reminded him of a younger brother…

Time? Twenty past noon. And yes, Aoshi still needed a drink.

===

Author's Note:

So hey, how's it going. ^_^; Just thought I'd say hi, and hope ya liked the new chapters. Yup. Well, yeah. That's all. ^_^; ::wavewave:: These chapters I might do some more work on, I'll let ya know.