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True Gifts Lemony Fresh Extra	By : Rissa2878 Category: Rurouni Kenshin > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 2468 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 5

Their second day of walking carried on much like the first once they had reached the Oniwan path. The only thing different was that Misao had made it her goal to have some fun instead of pondering the past. She wasn’t sure how the man of ice would respond to her request but anything was better than another day spent in silence like the first.

Sneaking a glance at him to see if he was paying attention she gathered her courage and spoke, “Ne, Aoshi-sama?”

“Umm…”He appeared to be remotely bored and a bit distracted.

“You’ve been very quiet and I’ve been wondering something. I haven’t really had a chance to practice since I went to Tokyo, and I wanted to know if you would like to stop and go over some katas or something.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye waiting for him to deny her request.

“Why?” Aoshi eyed her warily; this was not a request she would normally ask of him.

“Why not? I need it and you can teach me proper form. I know I’m not doing all of my stances correctly. I could use the help…” Misao stopped and looked at him in earnest. She hoped he would not deny her the chance to at least train with him.

He realized she was serious and turned to face her. “What do you think you need to work on?” Misao cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment. She had never really gotten a chance to learn the sword stances of the Oniwan Banshuu, especially those of her late father’s technique Kodachi Nitou Ryu which Aoshi had mastered.

She had seen her father’s techniques and other katas performed many times by Aoshi, several times when he hadn’t known she was there. Okina had walked her hastily through the different forms but he didn’t enjoy sword work, having always preferred the dexterity of tonfa, so he had never taught her properly. She knew Aoshi was much better at the omnitsu arts than she was, but asking him to teach her was worth a try to see exactly how far behind she was in her training.

Aoshi waited patiently for an answer, he knew that Misao was only moderately skilled. He had never taken it upon himself to train her because her grandfather had never wanted her to be omnitsu. But it seemed that she was a natural, she had trained herself and took all suggestions to heart. Misao had developed her own style of mismatched kenpo. Aoshi was proud of her.

However…teaching her was another thing. When the Oniwan had thrived in Edo at the end of the dynasty he had been a skilled leader, the best of the Oniwan fighters even at the age of 15. He had been a hard and very unforgiving teacher; after all, the protection of emperor was their whole purpose for being. There was no room for mistakes when the fate of their country had hung in the balance. After the Oniwan were disbanded, there was no longer any reason to fight, their world had been torn asunder and the trained practitioners of the omnitsu arts had fallen to the wayside, flailing to find a place for themselves in the new Meiji era.

Aoshi counted himself as one of the lost. His whole life had been devoted to leading, training and protecting people of power. Several of his men had also been unable to fit into a normal life. Those men had been his responsibility. They had been rejected by the government and forced to work for lowlifes like Kanryuu as nothing more than thugs. And they had died to protect him, his friends and loyal followers. Really, for Aoshi it was hard for him to mentor another after all his teaching had wrought was the death of his friends and those he cared about. To teach Misao would be insanity, but it was the only thing he could give her, the only thing he could let himself give her.

"I think I'd like you to show me the Oniwan Kodachi stances so that I can start practicing them when we get home." It wasn't the request he had been expecting. It had actually been the last thing on his mind. Aoshi mentally reviewed the many times he'd found her practicing. Her moves were fluid but no where near fast enough to be effective with a sword. She wasn't ready to go that far yet.

"Misao, you are adept at most of your standard katas. However, to properly utilize a sword, you have to be perfect. I have seen you falter between steps too many times. Prove to me that you are ready to learn and I will teach you, but until then you have got a lot of work to do. If you want to train I will go over your kenpo steps with you and show you how to do them properly, but that’s all for now." Misao was irked that he had critiqued her so harshly, but the help he had offered was more than she had ever dreamed he would give.

They continued to walk until the next clearing. As they broke through the trees into the sunlight they shed their bags and strolled to the center of the field. Aoshi walked her through her stances quickly with a well-trained eye. For the most part they were correct with only minor flaws in her foot and hand placement which would ultimately affect her overall balance. They could be fixed. She was also too eager. Her movements were sometimes jerky and erratic, almost if she was rushing through the movement with little or no thought. 'We'll have to work on that… She seems to have her feet well grounded.'

Aoshi's mental perusal of her movements was unnerving. As he watched drop her weight from center to side to a kick she almost fell over when she saw his eyes stop for a lengthy pause on her breasts before traveling down her torso. His obvious perusal of her breasts was not as unnerving by half as opposed to the narrow glare he gave her for not paying attention as she dropped her leg. Misao had the most drastic urge to run for cover under his scorching gaze. She squelched the urge and forced herself to ignore him as she completed the stances.

As the last stance came to an end Aoshi motioned to her, “Wakkata. That’s enough for now.” As Misao came to a stop, Aoshi turned and walked to a shady patch of ground the edge of the clearing where they had placed their packs.

“Aoshi-sama?” Misao’s head cocked to the side as she watched him walk away, she was a bit confused as to why he had stopped so suddenly, but she was grateful not to be under his harsh scrutiny any longer. As she walked toward him she saw that he had pulled their lunch out of his bag and was preparing their food for a quick meal.

Normally they would have never stopped to eat, but since they had already paused it was more than appropriate for them to eat now rather than later. What she hadn’t expected was the ferocious growl her stomach made when she saw the food. Aoshi must have read her tummy’s mind. He turned around when he heard the sound, raising an eyebrow.

“Eat.” He held out a cloth with a few onigiri and some dried fish. She was famished and sank to the ground with an ungraceful thump as she started to stuff her face with one of the proffered onigiri. She looked up when she heard a small snort come from Aoshi’s direction.

He was sitting with elegant grace on the ground next to her with his long legs crossed neatly beneath him. His cloth was spread out over his knee with his food perfectly balanced on his leg. While his face and hands were clean and crumbless, she could feel rice sticking to her cheeks and fingers. Her food was about to fall out of her lap onto the leaves beneath her. Misao flushed a bright red and hastily made to clean herself up.

She missed the amused glance Aoshi gave her as she swiped at a stray piece of rice on her cheek. “Do you feel better now?”

“H-hai…I’m a mess, ne?” Misao’s blush deepened as she chewed on a piece of fish.

“No more so than usual. We’ll work on your katas when we get home, if you’d like.” It wasn’t normal for Aoshi to offer her a choice in anything. It was always either his way or a fight. For him to offer her a choice was the closest she’d ever get to an olive branch from him.

“Hai, I would like that.” She paused a moment, thinking of the quiet forest around them. The silence held a tentative air of normalness they had been unable to achieve with others around. Misao was unsure if she wanted to break the carefree mood they had finally settled into, but if they were ever going to get past what had happened, now was the time to do it. He couldn’t run from her or make excuses in the middle of the forest; here he was as good as stuck with her. She wanted to get the past out into the open for once and for all. The shame she’d had to endure and the emotions she harbored would do her no good once back in Kyoto.

“Aoshi-sama, we have to talk about…other things…” She was tentative to broach the subject.

“Iie, there’s nothing to talk about.” Misao was shocked when he stood up quickly and began to repack his bag.
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True Gifts Lemony Fresh Extra