Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ That Voodoo That You Do ❯ An Accident? ( Chapter 4 )

She had only meant to get water out of the well for the restaurant kitchen. It was the last thing that had been asked of her before she put her plan into action. And yet for some reason, Okina had insisted that she got the water herself. Misao grumbled as she approached the rockery that stemmed up above the hole. She growled as she hauled the bucket on its rope over the side, but when she felt the chord wrap itself spontaneously around her wrists and haul her down with it, Misao screamed.

She fell for a short time, until she was submerged, and kept sinking, feeling her body dragged down into the depths. Luckily for her, Aoshi was returning from the temple at that time with a doll that looked uncannily like Kenshin, which had been at the temple waiting for him that morning, in a box from the troublesome fox. And his response to seeing a long braid plummet into the well was to move in the blink of an eye, to the side of the well, and shout down. "Misao!!!"

In the meantime, Okina was wondering what firstly the noise was about, and secondly, where Misao had gotten to with that water. He came out looking, and found not his charge, but Aoshi pulling on the bucket rope, that was still heavy and keeping Misao in her incarceration of suffocation.

Before long, he had her, and was pulling her over the side and onto the grass. Not only was she soaked to the bone but she didn't appear to be breathing either. Her Saito doll had fallen out of her clothes and lay facing the cloudy skies, smirking as Aoshi with frantic motion checked first for a pulse and then proceeded to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

By now all of the remaining Oniwaban members were watching, all of them helpless to do nothing but watch. Misao's lips were a purple shade, which everyone recognised as a bad sign as time and again, Aoshi attempted to breathe life into her limp frame. He found himself thinking… `Don't give up, Misao. I know you're stronger than this. Just… breathe. Kami-sama, let her breathe!'

About ready to try again, he paused, and then watched. Her chest heaved, and Misao spluttered into life as she renounced the water from her lungs. She coughed and coughed whilst trying to catch her breath, and then she noticed she wasn't alone. "What happened? Lo- Aoshi, why are you here?"

"You silly girl," stepped in Okina, "I ask you to get me a bucket of water and you fall down the well. Luckily your guardian angel happened to be available, and saved your life."

Her eyes trembled as she recounted what happened. The bucket. The rope. Being dragged down - so heavy… and then feeling so light she could see both Kyoto and Tokyo, indeed all of Japan in an instant of fantastic light. And then it was gone, and she was back again.

"You worried us all there for a moment, Misao." Okon told her, before running inside to get a towel. In response, Misao sneezed, but instead of just one, it was a flurry of small mini sneezes. She was helped indoors and exiled to her bed to recover before her sneeze turned into a full-blown cold.