Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Honest Nothing ❯ Beginning of Something More ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Aiko belongs to ione_girl, everyone else belongs to someone else.

A/N: I can't help it, I love both RK and PMK, so this story is sort of a result of that. I wouldn't consider it a crossover though, since I'm not taking characters of one and placing them with the others. I am however, taking the characters and twisting them together cause, well, I'm the author and I can. I'm trying my best to stay true to them though.

Sub-A/N: I would just like to point out that I am using ione_girl's character Aiko (from "Where are You Now") because this story is being kinda written FOR her. I've tried to keep a lot of her personality the same, like the hatred she feels for her father. Only, my version of Aiko doesn't consist of her being depressed. More like, since she had a bad life, she wants to help others have a good one.

And now the story continues . . .

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Honest Nothing

Chapter Five:

Beginning of Something More

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Don Juan, Canto 11

Alas! The love of a woman! It is known

To be a lovely and fearful thing:

For all of theirs upon that die is thrown, and if 'tis lost, life hast

To them but mockeries of the past alone, and their revenge is as a tiger's spring,

Deadly, and quick, and crushing: yet as real torture is theirs, what they inflict they feel.........

~ Lord Byron

(ll. 145-52)

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Last time on Honest Nothing

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He tightened his arms around her. Letting his head fall to rest on her shoulder, his breathing hot and heavy against her neck. Her world stopped as she heard his mumbled question, "Why?"

Her knees gave out, causing her to crash to the ground, bring a hurt Okita along with her. Her whole body began to shake as tears freely flowed from her eyes. The single question repeating over and over in her mind.

`Why indeed?'

~ ~ * * ~ ~ * * ~ ~

Silence surrounded her, invaded her every thought as warmth oozed onto her stomach. She faintly wondered where the warmth was coming from on such a cold night, then she remembered. Okita. She had stabbed him, and his blood was the warmth seeping in through her sleeping yukata.

"Oh god, what have I done?" Guilt laced her words as she whispered them into the night. What was it that had made her strike against him? He was the first person to ever show an ounce of kindness to her, and she had repaid that kindness by stabbing him.

Her stomach lurched at the thought. She wasn't even quite sure where she had hurt him, but the blood on her hands was testimony of the deed. Aiko brought her arms up to shakily hold him to her, as if that would erase the pain she had caused. Even as men continued to fall around her, she didn't want to let him go for fear that he would suddenly disappear into thin air.

A choked laugh caught her attention then, bring her eyes to the man she held. "You stabbed me, that's what."

Aiko looked at him incredulously. She had just stabbed the man, and there he was making light of the situation. And was it just her, or was the smile in his eyes as big as the smile on his face? `Maybe,' she allowed her self to briefly hope, `maybe I didn't hurt him that badly.' She was happy about that, but she felt a little disappointed also.

Okita's arms loosened their hold on her waist as he shifted his position in favor of laying his cheek on her lap. Her lap acted as a sort of soft pillow, and Okita unconsciously snuggled deeper into it. He could fall asleep like this, even with the rocks poking him in his stomach.

The world around Aiko seemed oddly peaceful, as if the fighting had finally come to a close. It almost felt right to have Okita lying down with his head resting on her lap. That was of course, if you discounted the fact that his creating a pool of itself on the ground.

She lifted her hands to Okita's head and wove her fingers through his hair, marveling at its soft texture. A soft chuckle escaped her as she compared his hair to that of corn silk.

But peace is a fragile thing, much like a rose, that once clipped from its family it becomes lonely and will slowly wither away. And so to was this fragile peace that Aiko had found Okita and herself in. Shattered quickly by the drawing of a katana, no more than a few feet away.

The almost silent hiss drew their attention away from each other to the man standing by them, katana poised to strike out at Okita's unprotected back. Okita tried to roll to the side in order to distance himself from the fatal blow, but found himself instead crushed to the ground, rivulets of dark hair tickling his eyes. He let out a small groan as the impact jarred his still bleeding shoulder. His attention directed more toward Aiko's small body, who had thrown herself on him. He watched, as if in slow motion, as the katana flew down and firmly planted itself into Aiko's side, pinning her to the ground below. He vaguely registered Aiko's grip on his sides tighten as her blood curdling scream cut through the air.

Okita spared a look at the offender before gently removing his body out from under Aiko's. His movements slow and calculated, much like a panther stalking its pray, he stood and walked to where his own katana sat. With his back turned to the man he crouched down and lifted his weapon. Half expecting the coward to have ran away already, Okita turned his head to look over his shoulder and was mildly surprised to find the man still standing by Aiko's prone body.

The man's hands still tightly grasped the hilt of his katana as his unclear eyes rose to Okita. Vaguely looking past him to the area around him. He didn't notice as Okita slowly turned and waked toward him. It wasn't until Okita finally spoke that the man registered his presence.

Okita painted on his smile, and left only his eyes to continue to glare at the man. When he spoke, his words were eerily calm, as if merely commenting on the weather.

"You spilt an innocents blood, and it will be my honor to spill yours."

The man's eyes took on a slightly clouded look as he stumbled back a step. His voice cracking with unsuppressed fear, he tried in vain to come to reason with Okita. The prospect that he might have just ended an innocent's life flashing across his thoughts.

"I . . .No, it's not . . .I didn't think . . ."

Okita barely batted an eyelash as he stopped the man from continuing on his plea. The man's body crumbled to the ground, an abandoned cry lodged in his throat. His dull eyes opened to the world around him, as if still watching a life he no longer owned.

Okita quickly cleaned his blade of the blood dripping off of it, then moved back over to Aiko. Checking the wound that was still filled with the katana, Okita out the breath he didn't know he had been holding. Relief washed over him at the knowledge that Aiko's life wasn't in danger. True, her wound could prove to be fatal if left unattended to, but he would make sure she recovered.

He leaned down to whisper into her ear, regardless if she heard him or not. "Your going to be okay now Aiko-san." With that, he grasped the hilt the katana and slowly eased it out of her side, causing a groan from Aiko. Flinging it aside he then placed his now empty hands on her side and added pressure to help stop the bleeding. His own wound forgotten the moment Aiko had received hers.

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A flash of pain had gone through Aiko's body when the katana sliced through her skin. She had tried to hold the pain back, to keep it at bay, but in the end it won over her and sent her into a spiraling darkness. The last thing she remembered was a slight movement from beneath her, and then it all was black.

She could sense her consciousness slipping back, begging to be woken up. But the more and more awake she became, the more she was aware of the pain in her side. She clutched at the darkness, wanting to bring back the painlessness it carried in its arms, unwilling to be welcomed back into the world of light and pain. It was all for not she knew, but she tried desperately regardless.

A sound drifted across her consciousness, dragging her attention to it. So soft and melodious it appeared to be, almost singing for her a lullaby to wake up fully. Aiko listened to it as it wove its way around her thoughts, whispering of times long and gone. It sounded so familiar to her, she wondered to whom this voice belonged to.

A sudden pain in her side brought her out of her musings and back to the world she strongly wanted to stay away from. Cracking her eyelids open she was met with darkness. Had she slept through the rest of that night and the next day? She didn't want to recall any of it, so when she felt her consciousness start to slip away again, she greatly accepted it. Enwrapping herself in the dreamless sleep, it welcomed her.

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Okita sat in the corner of the room with his katana gently resting against his shoulder, a light sleep hovering over him. He had brought Aiko back with him with the rest of the Shinsengumi. A crooked smile played at his lips as he remembered the reaction THAT had brought him from Hijikata. Yes, the image would stay with him for as long as his lungs drew breath. Hijikata with a perplexed look - very uncommon for him - and a mumbled "hn." Hijikata himself had probably been thinking, "Wow, so Okita isn't gay."

Waking from his daze his eyes drifted to Aiko's slumbering form, making sure she was still breathing. His feelings about the girl confused him to no end. He wasn't sure what to think anymore, something that annoyed him to a great deal. He was always up to a challenge, but normally those occurred with Saitou and a katana. She, on the other hand, presented something much more than a challenge, she was the very presence of confusion.

There was one thing he knew about her, she wasn't who she was acting to be, her ability to fight proved his theory on this.

Yawning, Okita thought it better to think on this later. Right now, all he wanted was more sleep.

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Chirp . . .

Chirp . . .

CHRIP, CHIRP, CHIRP . . .

Aiko pulled her blanket over her head to muffle the sound of the happily singing birds. It was too early, couldn't nature's alarm clock give her at least five more minutes? Ah yes, more sleep, more wonderful sleep.

It was a little warm under the blankets, but at least she couldn't hear the birds anymore.

Chirp . . . chirp.

CHIRP

Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Aiko sat up, the blankets pooling around her waist. All she wanted was more sleep, which was apparently too much to ask for.

"Mornings too cruel." Aiko mumbled as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

With a sudden lurch of pain in her side, Aiko promptly laid back down. Wincing as the dull throb slowly eased. She brought her hand to lay on her side as the occurrences of last night ran through her mind in a tangled mess. Aiko remembered watching as countless bodies fell around her, remembered meeting up with Okita followed by attacking him. She remembered the katana flying toward Okita, throwing her body over his to protect him and the racking pain that followed shortly after. But after that, nothing.

`I'm not dead am I?'



Chirp . . .chirp.

Nope, she wasn't dead. The annoying birdy song threw that thought out of mind.

Well, if she wasn't dead, then where was she? Aiko let her eyes scan the surrounding area, looking for something she would recognize. Her eyes stopped when she saw a sleeping form sitting in the corner of the room.

Yep, she recognized him at least.

A small smile lit her face as she thought of how sweet he was to watch over her the whole night. This time very slowly and carefully, Aiko sat up, dropping her hand to rest on her injured side again. A confused look crossed her features then. Her yukata felt different, courser . . . bigger?

Her gaze drifted from the sleeping man to her yukata. Aiko's brows furrowed, and she bit her lip. Her yukata wasn't any different, all that might have been different about it would be that it was coated with dry blood. The thing was, she wasn't wearing HER yukata, she was wearing someone else's sleeping yukata.

Her gaze traveled to Okita's body, back to the yukata, back to Okita, back to the yukata.

Mindful that even a sleeping man wouldn't get to see her flash him, she slightly pulled the edges of the yukata back to find that her injury had been bandaged. By the looks of it, quite skillfully too.

Chirp . . .

Her gaze snapped back to Okita. Closing the yukata back up, she mentally did her math. One and one makes two, two and one makes three. Anger flared to life in her eyes, seemingly to light her eyes from a dark brown to bright shade of red.

She took a deep breath, and prepared to scream holy murder.

"BAAAKKKAAAA!"

If there were any men still in bed, then the shaking of the building from the scream would have surely woken them up.

Okita's eyes snapped open the instant the scream reached his ears. He expected to find the place under attack, not a female staring daggers at him.

To say that he was confused would be an understatement. He hadn't done anything wrong to warrant her wrath had he?

"Ano . . .?"

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Harada was hungry, and the fish bone he was currently chewing wasn't helping him any. Stepping out of his room, he casually started to make his way toward the kitchens where food would greet him.

"Mmm, food."

His stomach agreed with the thought whole heartily as it growled loudly.

"You . . . you . . . HENTAI!"

Harada stopped in mid stride, looking around himself for the one the scream came from. He shrugged his shoulders when he couldn't spot anyone. Apparently, he wasn't the person the scream was directed at. He almost pitied the poor fool it was directed toward though.

An even louder growl came from his stomach, reminding him of his quest for food. Patting his tummy, he tried to assuage its growing hunger.

"Don't worry, foods just around the corner."

Another voice filtered through the morning air, causing his curiosity to peek.

"Now, now Aiko-san. You were . . ."

That sounded an awful lot like Okita. Even better, an Okita with a very, very angry harpy. Harada had to stifle his laughter when he heard the angry harpy yell out some very unlady like words.

His hunger momentarily forgotten, Harada silently made his way to Okita's shoji. Leaning next to it, he placed his ear on the shoji so he could listen better. Though he really had no need to do so, the angry harpy's voice was loud enough to wake every one else up.

"What are you doing?"

Harada turned a guilty smile over his head and laughed at his buddy, "Shhh! Okita's having a lover's quarrel with his harpy."

Nagakura's eyebrows rose at the mention of Okita having a lover's quarrel with a girl he had supposedly just met. Walking up beside Harada, he proceeded to place his ear against the shoji.

"So what if I was hurt, you didn't have to change my CLOTHING!"

The force of the last word sent Harada and Nagakura tumbling to the ground, shaken. That didn't last long though, as in a matter of seconds they were back up with ears plastered to the shoji.

"What are you two doing?"

Harada and Nagakura's muscles visibly tensed at the question. Turning their heads in unison to look over their shoulder to where Hijikata stood, they whispered, "Shhh! Okita's having a lover's quarrel with his harpy."

Hijikata quirked an amused eyebrow, "So ka?"

The pair bobbed their heads up and down, then promptly placed their ears back on the shoji so they didn't miss anything more.

"Kami! You undressed me! You perving, sexually repressed . . .midget!"

Hijikata felt the unmistakable urge to fall over and laugh. Of course, he didn't, he just continued to stand behind the pair. He did however, unintentionally or not, move a few inches closer toward the shoji.

THWAK

Harada couldn't take anymore, he crumbled to the ground holding his stomach as his body began to shake from laughter.

All three were highly amused when Okita was sent flying from the room, landing in a dusty heap on the ground next to the still laughing Harada. Articles of his belongings landing shortly after next to him.

Okita made to stand up, but was thrown down again when something heavy landed on top of him, successfully pinning him to the ground.

Hijikata slowly raised his eyebrow in amusement before simply stating, "Okita-san."

Okita, lying underneath the futon that had previously been in his room, laughed softly before responding, "Hijikata-kun."

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Harada looked over to Okita and managed to get in between laughs, "midget . . .sex . . .depriev . . .Kami that's great!"

Tbc.

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Well, that chapter was relatively fun to write. Couldn't stop laughing myself! Heehee! But, yeah, its not a cliffy! Woohoo!

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Next chapter:

Only time will tell . . .

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Character Notes:

Aiko: . . .mad . . .at Okita . . .

Okita: . . .confused . . .but still Okita . . .

Harada: Captain of the tenth squad of the Shinsengumi, if my memory serves me right. Lets see, he was the character design for Sano in the RK series, so I used Sano's personality for him. Besides that, yeah, I have more research to do . . .where's ione_girl when I need her?

Nagakura: Is there ever a time when Nagakura isn't with Harada?

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To my reviewers: Monster cookies for you both!

Ione_girl: If you actually found last chapter funny, I'm sure you loved this one. ::pea's slide down face . . . grabs cabbage . . .:: Take that! Ha!

Mysticinca (aka lillithan): Yes, yes, I must confess, I did enjoy writing the last chapter. But I found this one to be WAY more enjoyable to write. Teehee! Its always good to hear that someone likes my style! ::glares at ione_girl:: lol

For everyone else who is faithfully reading my story, I love you people, even though you seem to have a phobia of reviewing. Lol.

Fanfic by inca_dove

*_* Gad, I don't think I'll be able to think for a week now that I've wrote this chapter!