Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Meditation ❯ The Date ( Chapter 1 )

What is Meditation?

Focusing ones thoughts on a single idea or object.

Aoshi sat at the temple meditating just like every other day. He was pondering, wondering thinking about the certain object he had an idea about. No, it is not: 'I want to be The Strongest. Must. Kill. Battousai.' It is or at least should be the most pondered, wondered about, and thought about question in the world. Does she like me? 'Ahh. Misao,' he thought focusing all of his thought and energy on her. On the way she threw her daggers, on the way she laughs. A smile crept up on his normally icy-calm face scaring the unfortunate Buddhist monk that happened to walk by at that moment.

 

Aoshi snapped back to reality. He removed the smile from his face once he noticed or rather felt the gaze of that monk. Aoshi never smiles! He gathered his thoughts back together again on her, but this time careful not to let his emotion run wild across his face like last time.

 

'She has a cute, rather plump smile... good for kis- Oh NO!! Can't have my thoughts go there in a temple!' Thought Shinomori, a blush creeping along his neck. 'Her indecent clothing lets one see her trim, well-formed muscles. I hope no other guys ever gawk at her! Maybe I should... nah, she can take care of herself with her trim, well formed... mmm... muscles. I bet she tastes sweet...'

 

He snapped once again back to reality because that 'tastes sweet' part reminded him that Misao had asked him to have tea with her and he would not be late -again- to have tea. Misao had also specifically asked for him to meet her for tea. Today. 'Misao... she really is beautiful. Well, I guess twelve hours of thinking about her is enough. Now I get to see her!' He thought giddily.

 

'Well, who said meditation was for religion or soul-searching was way off!' Aoshi thought as he stopped meditating about Misao and stood up to leave.

 

As he was leaving the temple he bowed to a monk that was always standing by the doors. "I see you are leaving early Shinomori-san."

 

"Yes," he answered back and that was all that was needed.

 

Aoshi found that he had strayed from the path to the Tea House where he was meeting Misao for tea. Maybe this was a sign that he shouldn't start taking orders from that small little girl. Girl? She wasn't a girl anymore. She is a woman, maybe not mature but mature where it counts.

Aoshi smiled. Again. Something he was getting very sick of. It wasn't that he wanted to be some macho guy. He just didn't like the wrinkles it gave him. He used to smile all the time until he found a little wrinkle creeping up on his face. But, to be honest, he'd rather have people think he wanted to be cold rather than have them know he cared about wrinkles.

"Fresh Flowers!" Cried out an old lady, the flower lady,  as he passed by her wares. She had wrinkles. Many, many wrinkles. Something that Aoshi would never have.

He continued on past her, returning to the path that would eventually lead him to the Tea House. He past so many chances to escape but he never could find a break in the crowd to let him out. Okay, so he didn't really want to go back on his semi-promise top Misao. Also, she was scary... sometimes. If she felt she was wronged somehow she wouldn't stop until she got what she wanted. Sometimes that was an apology. And sometimes it was beating that person up.

Shinomori Aoshi does not go back on his word.

So he continued on, doing something that he was thoroughly against. Maybe he'll get lucky and find out that she forgot. He loved her and all but he couldn't be putty in her hands. To late, he already was and there was nothing he could do about it. Good thing she doesn't know. Yet?

When he looked up from starring at the ground he found himself at the place he has been dreading all day. Maybe be can just wait out here and she won't see him. Then he won't be force to go inside. Yes. That is a perfect plan.

"Aoshi-san!" Yelled out a familiar voice. Aoshi didn't have to turn around to know that it was Misao. When he did turn around he saw her waving madly at him, smiling as if he had made her the happiest person in the world.

 

“Yeah! Aoshi-san! You're here! I didn't think you'd come this time,” Misao was happy, which made Aoshi happy. But no one would know that now would they.

“Huh, hello Misao-san,” Aoshi answered her politely, shifting around.

Misao grabbed his lonely hand and dragged him up the Tea House steps and through the doors. Not letting go for fear that he would vanish. She waved to people she knew, none Aoshi knew, and waved joyfully at them. All done with one hand fastened to Aoshi's. As she got to their table she reluctantly let go. Like he would actually run away when he was already in the place!

“Hello! Here are your menus, I'll be back shortly!” Told a busy sounding waitress. She shoved the menus under their noses and ran off to the place where waitresses wait. Where ever that is.

He picked up his menu and looked at it. Slowly. What should he have? Hmmm... Maybe he should ask Misao's opinion. No. Aoshi does not ask people's opinions about anything. Especially something as insignificant as food.

“Misao-san,” he's a traitor to even himself! “What are you having?” Well, that wasn't exactly the same as asking what he should have, it was more like getting her opinion of what's good.

“Hmmm... I don't know. I'm having some ginseng tea, maybe... I don't know what I should eat. What are you eating?” She asked a bit nervously.

“What are you guys gonna have to drink?” Butted in the waitress, unknowingly saving Aoshi from the trouble of answering a question he didn't know the answer to.

“I'll have some ginseng tea,” Misao told her.

“And you sir?”

“I'll have some too.”

She wrote down their drink orders and sped off. Aoshi wasn't liking this waitress, it doesn't matter that she saved him from the impossible. She didn't tell them her name like all other waiters and waitresses do, she didn't even give him enough time to choose his own drink! Maybe she will give them enough time to find the right food. Maybe. Who knows with these crazy waiters and waitresses now a days.

“So, Aoshi-san, what are you having?”

What's with all these questions! Monks don't ask a lot of questions. They don't even ask any! Why did he have to leave his silent chamber of daydreaming? Daydreaming of Misao is a lot better than actually being with her. When you daydream of her she can't say stupid things. She can't do stupid things. But, she can't do stupid cute things. Maybe daydreaming of her isn't as good as actually being with her.

“I'm having shrimp fried rice,” he answered her. Good thing he remembered something that's on the menu because he hasn't even taken a look at it.

“That sounds good! I think I'll have the miso soup and some of this foreign food. The owner of this place is trying out all kinds of food. He's trying to see which ones will be more welcomed by the public so I promised to try some the next time I came here.”

'Hmm... I should say something. What? Conversation would be good right about now!' Aoshi thought nervously. He wasn't a very good conversationist. They had only been sitting silently for a few minutes but it seemed like hours to Aoshi.

He twirled his chopsticks through his fingers on his right hand. Misao was watching him with great amusement and concentration. She looked to her chopsticks, wondering if she could ever do something like that. She decided that giving up before trying was against her religion. She picked up her chopsticks going to try that brave feat. She started out slowly, and then as she got better she moved her fingers faster around the chopsticks. Aoshi looked up from his trick to see Misao doing the same thing that he was doing. Except better, and now she was flipping the chopsticks from hand to hand. How could this be? How could Misao do that better than him? Then, the chopsticks flung from her fingers across the room to hit their waitress that suddenly appeared. They smacked her right on the forehead rendering her unconscious.

Misao and Aoshi started in wide-eyed shock at their now unconscious mattress.

They started laughing. Misao at first louder than Aoshi but soon he was laughing his head off. All the other patrons starred at them with fright, and alarmed that they would laugh at that poor waitress. Then, maybe laughing is contagious because everyone else started laughing. At first it started out small, then it grew, and grew, and grew until the whole Tea House was in a wild uproar of cackling.

Then a waiter pulled the unconscious waitress out of the dinning area followed by some subdued laughter.

Everyone tried to pull themselves together. Some people lost their appetite, full from of the laughing they had done. But Misao and Aoshi stayed because they still wanted their food that they hadn't ordered yet and their waitress was now out of commission. How were they suppose to get their food?

Aoshi and Misao's lunch was now not only the only one they had together but also the best one they had together. They were all smiles now.

"Hello," a voice said cutting of their fun. "I, Takashi Minoshu, will be your new waiter. Here is the tea that you ordered." He told them, putting their cups on the table followed by the teapot. "I will be back shortly to get your food order." He left Misao and Aoshi with a swish.

"Misao-san," Aoshi inquired.

"Yes, Aoshi-san?"

"I am glad that I came here with you."

"So am I," she said smiling as broadly as she could. "I don't think I'll ever try that again."

 

Two people next to them stood up and left the Tea House talking about Misao's feat with the chopsticks. They said it like they had never played with their chopsticks before. Aoshi has started doing that when he was a kid about seven years old.

"You should. You were quite good at it."

 

Misao was never 'quite good' about anything. She either 'should never touch a torch again' or she 'should be locked inside of an impenetrable block of cement that should be tossed into the deepest part of the ocean.' Aoshi was so nice! He would say anything to make Misao happy.

"You think? Maybe I should try to make my fingers a little less slippery next time." She muttered taking a napkin and rubbing her fingers in it.

She took a sip of her tea when the waiter came back.

The waiter pulled out a pad of paper and a pen, "what will you be ordering?"

 

Misao pondered a bit, rereading what was on the menu before she chose what she wanted to eat. "I'll be ordering-"

"Nothing," Aoshi cut in quickly. "We aren't going to eat here." He told the waiter. He pulled out some yen that would pay for the tea that they ordered and handed it over to the waiter. "Come on Misao-san, I don't think you'd want to eat in this stuffy place."

Misao jumped up from her seat. She was really happy; Aoshi was beginning to understand her. She didn't really want to eat here, she just asked Aoshi to eat here because she didn't think he would want to eat at her favorite places. "Okay Aoshi-san! Let's go!"

Aoshi took her hand and led her out of that place.

'What am I doing? This is really unlike me! Where are we going to eat now? I sense that Misao is hungry so why did she want to leave with me? Saying that we were going to leave was spur of the moment! Well, not really. I had been thinking about it ever since Misao picked up her chopsticks. But I didn't think I'd actually go through with it! What am I going to do?'

Misao started humming, still holding on to Aoshi's hand because he was too deep in thought to remember that he still held her hand. All the better for her.

 

She led Aoshi out of the restaurant area to her favorite place to eat. The snack places. She loved that Korean pancake (AN: okay, so that's an American description of it, so what? I don't know how the Japanese would describe it.) with that oh so yummy filling inside of it. She couldn't pronounce the name of it, but she did know where the stand was and what the name sounds like. Polish Duck or Bull Dog. (You decide.) Personally, Misao thought it could be either one of them even though they sounded nothing alike.

'Does Aoshi-san like them? Would he?' She thought stopping in front of the stand full of the delicious treat that she wanted so much to share with Aoshi.

"Yes? What would you like?" Asked the stand-owner person. Misao was uncertain of what to call them or what they call themselves. The person hand a foreigners accent so she must be a Korean that some how came to live in Japan. Either that or the person visited Korean, liked their food, came back to Japan and started a business selling Korean food and developed a Korean accent.

"I would like some Polish Duck please. Wait, make that two!" She said indicating Aoshi who was still deep in thought.

 

"Here is your hotuk," said the snack-stand person, handing Misao both of the steaming hot delicacies.

 

Misao took them hungrily after paying.. "Thank you!" She pulled the recovering Aoshi over to the side so others could eat her delicious bull dog. "Here Aoshi-san, some Polish Duck for a snack!" She waved it under his nose.

 

That snapped him fully back. He looked to Misao for an answer to what had happened and saw that she was handing him something. So he took the hotuk.

 

"Thank you Misao-san for the... uh... nice snack." He was uncertain as to what exactly it was that she had given him.

 

'It must be edible for Misao called it a "snack"' Aoshi thought to himself. 'It looks good, smells good, it's called a snack so it must be food.' He reasoned.

 

Misao took a big bite followed by a smaller one from Aoshi.

 

"Hmm… this is good Misao-san," said after finishing his first bit. Aoshi had never tasted anything other than Japanese food (an: a lie) so this was a new taste for him. Something he should add to his list of Really Really Really Great Food That I, Shimonori Aoshi, Would Recommend For Other People.

 

Misao started walking down the road, all Aoshi could do was follow. So he did. They walked side by side down the road eating their hotuk until finally that really small pancake goody was all gone.

 

Aoshi finished first which was amazing because of the huge bites Misao took and the really small ones he took. Maybe he chewed, swallowed, and bit faster than Misao?

 

"Where are we going now?" Aoshi asked after a while of walking around that lead them nowhere. Aoshi does not like walking nowhere. He either walked somewhere or didn't walk at all.

"Hmm… I don't know Aoshi-san. Anywhere we want." She answered him back. "I know, let's go to that new garden. I hear that it's beautiful."

 

Aoshi scratched the hairs on his chin for a nanosecond before he considered if he wanted to go. "Okay Misao-san. I, too, hear that it has the most exquisite flowers in all of Kyoto."

 

'If Misao wants to go, then I, too, want to go!'

 

"Yes!" Misao exclaimed. She brushed off the crumbs on her hands, (maybe that's where all her hotuk went) bragged Aoshi's hand and went on her way to the garden.

 

"Okon says that it is a beautiful garden, so does Gramps. Where did you hear it from?"

 

"Around…"

 

That seemed all the answer Misao was expecting, maybe that's all she ever got from him because she didn't bother to fully register it in her brain. Well, there was a pretty dog walking by that looked like it needed some attention.

 

Misao was walking down to the garden, with her arm linked with Aoshi's.

 

Misao.

 

Arm.

 

Linked.

 

Aoshi.

 

She quickly removed her arm from where it was entwined with his arm. It's not that she didn't like the warmth that came from his body being so close. It's just that she realized that it was a good thing to be doing. Aoshi might not like it.

 

But he did like the closeness. He liked the perfume he smelt on Misao. Wait! Perfume? On his- eh… on Misao? Misao never wore perfume! Why would she be wearing some today? Why would she be wearing some at all? Well, it's not like he didn't like the perfume on her, he actually loved it on her.

 

They walked on to the garden in a companionable distance. Not too far and no too close. This was not what either of them wanted at that moment or any moment at all.

 

"Aoshi-san, what is your favorite flower?"

 

"I don't have a favorite flower." He noticed a disappointed look on Misao's usually amusement filled face. 'Why is she disappointed?' "All flowers are beautiful, so why chose one that you think deserves more affection if that's true?"

 

"I agree Aoshi-san. I like all flowers!" This coming from a girl that thinks weeds are the most adorable plant ever seen. Well, to each his own. Right?

 

Aoshi's hand twitched. It wanted soo much to hold Misao's. Why can't he? 'She didn't pull her arm out of mine. Why would she do that? Does she only like me as a friend? Nothing more?'

 

The scents of roses and all other assortments of flowers are heavy in the late afternoon air.

 

"Here we are Aoshi-san!"