RAIN

By ans 

DISCLAIMER: This is a Rurouni Kenshin inspired fan fiction. Standard disclaimers 
apply.

"On no! Not rain." Misao sighed, cradling her chin in her hands and pouting, as 
faint droplets of water 
began their pitter-patter dance on the roof of the Aoiya.

"Why the long face, Misao-chan?" It was Okon.

"Yes, why? DO tell." .And Omasu, as usual, filling the room with their 
undeniable presence.

The "Do tell" part wasn't exactly meant to be answered though, as the two women 
automatically reverted to 
their incessant chatter - about (in their words) the `dashing, fearless,
ever-chivalrous' Master Hiko, no doubt. Ever since the battle with the 
Juponggatana, they were wont to talk 
about nothing else. It was Hiko-this and Hiko-that interspersed with
sighs and shrill exclamations of "What a man!"

"Rain is so. sad." Misao said almost entirely to herself. But this remark 
silenced Okon and Omasu, the 
heroism of Hiko temporarily forgotten, prompting them to seriously
consider the melancholia of their young friend.

"Sad, Misao-chan? Why, rain is a beautiful thing!" Omasu cajoled, hoping to 
cheer up Misao - even if she 
didn't really know why it was so. "Isn't that right, Okon?" she
continued, slyly passing the burden of explaining to Okon who, in her part, shot 
dagger looks at Omasu.

"Yes.ah.yes, that is absolutely right!" Okon replied, having composed herself, 
all the while giving 
Omasu her most murderous eyes. "Rain is indeed a beautiful thing. Eh,
you know Misao-chan, my mother once told me that Kami-sama showers us his 
blessings through the rain. 
Every drop of rain you catch is a gift of luck."

"in life and in love." Omasu added, nodding her head in assent.

"Love." Misao again sighed as if she didn't fully hear nor understand what they 
had been talking about. 
"Rain is sad because it makes you stay at home." She continued
unconsciously. "But it's much more beautiful outside with the trees and the 
birds and. and. sunlight! 
Yes! I need sunlight! Sunlight is happy, bright.everything that the
rain isn't." With every word, Misao seemed to grow more agitated, earning 
concerned looks from the two 
women.

"We'd better watch out," whispered Okon. "She might start throwing her kunai all 
over the place again." 
Omasu nodded in conspiracy.

Misao unmindful of the two edging away from her, resumed her babbling. "Oh but 
there's no sunlight 
when it's raining, so you have to stay home. And when you stay at
home, tehre's hardly anything to do. You just sit in a corner and eat all the 
rice cakes in the house."

"So that's where all the rice cakes go!" thought Omasu. "This girl is 
incredible!"

"And when there are no more rice cakes, "Misao continued, "You just sit in the 
corner again and think 
about how you have no chance with.Oh, how stupid you are to fall in
love with."

Msai said unable to finish her sentence since a sudden thought entered her mind 
and made her bright blue 
eyes brighten. Without a word, she jumped from the corner where
she had been sitting, grabbed the umbrella on the wall and ran out of the Aoiya-
out in the rain.

Okon and Omasu were able to do nothing else but look at each other, puzzled by 
the silly girl's behavior.

"What is with her today?" Okan asked.

"I have no idea," Omasu replied. "Hey, I thought you never met your mother. You 
told me she died giving 
birth to you."

"She did." Okon winked. "But I also told you that I've always wanted to be an 
actress."

And the two women laughed.

***

I must get there before." This thought played over and over in her mind, keeping 
time with the rhythm of 
her steps.

"But what if I don't find him there? What then? What do I do? If he left, where 
would he go?Will I find 
him? Please, Kami-sama, let him be there. Every drop of rain,
right? Well, I need all the luck you can give now."

When she finally reached hjer destination, she was soaked to the skin and 
dripping on the tatami. She 
placed the treasured umbrella to rest on the wall and peeked through the
sliding door."

"Ah he's still here." She sighed with relief at the sight, thinking whoever 
heard her prayer.

Her Aoshi-sama was calmly sitting on the floor of his refuge, facing the wide 
window. Outside, the view of 
the mountains and the glimmer of the waterfall blurred with the
torrents of rain. But he was unable to see this transformation. His eyes were 
closed, as they often are now, 
in mediattion. His body gave no sign of what heights his soul may be
travelling, no indication if he was in this world still.

Misao almost reached out to touch him and check if he was all right. But a faint 
wisp of breath escaped his 
lips and she withdrew. She tiptoed to the other room, a smaller one
compared to where he was, and sat on the floor.

"Misao no baka! Now look at the mess you made of yourself!" she berated herself. 
"You look like a wet 
duck! No, not a duck. a swan maybe." The thought made her
smirk-and she controlled a giggle that threatened to escape from her throat. She 
was so afraid of 
disturbing her Aoshi-sama from his reverie. In her mind, she whacked herself
in the head and ordered herself to behave. Minutes passed and she grew more 
relazed. Her breathing was 
even, almost to the beat of the rain on the roof.

"he's still here. He's not going away," she thought. "And he will see that I did 
not forget. The umbrella is 
proof of this."

"A wet swan. I wonder if he likes swans."And with that, she closed her eyes to 
rest.

***

Aoshi had known she was there. He could hear, no, feel her unmistakeable 
footsteps as she had neared his 
sanctuary. He wondered to himself what she wanted, and waited
patiently for her to barge in and announce herself - the way she always did when 
she brought him tea in the 
morning.

When none came, he figured it wasn't such an important errand after all. For a 
while there, he felt her 
presence on the door. But she had made no move to enter. When she
retreated to the other room, he decided tocontinue his meditation. The trouble 
in his soul still has not 
calmed, he knew. The words of Himura were not enough.he was tsill
waiting for something. What-he didn't know.

"Every second of peace counts in achieving total enlightenment," he repeated 
over and over in his head. 
"Every second counts."

But almost an hour passed, and not a single second of peace came to him. He had 
been distracted, he told 
himself, by the presence of anotherperson in his sanctuary.
Mediattion is most effective done alone, and alone he was not.

With a resigned sigh, he stood up, having given up hismeditation altogether. He 
cleared his head of her 
image. her image that prevented any other thought to enter. He told
himself it was just because she was there, not for any other reason that her 
face refused to leave his mind. 
The way she played with her hair,the way she poute dher lips, the
way her eyes. her eyes. He shook his head more forcefully this time-in an effor 
to really clear his 
head. These thoughts were unhealthy, he reminded himself, for an
okashira like himself-and for a little girl like Misao.

"A little girl." he said to himself. When he slid the door open to the other 
room, he saw her curled up on 
the tatami-sound asleep-a puddle of water surrounding her small
body. "Yes, she's just a little girl."

He looked at her with wary eyes, icy blue eyes, but wary just the same. He 
decided against waking her up. 
She looked so peaceful and so . comfortable in her state that she
almost appeared like a painting. But a very real painting, he countered.

He picked her up, careful not to disturb her, and she automatically laid her 
head on his shoulder with a 
sigh-all the whilewith her eyes tightly closed. As Aoshi turned toward
the door, he noticed a colorful object resting on the wall. It was the umbrella, 
looking very prominent in the 
bare room.

From the umbrella, his gaze returned to Misao. "She brought it here. She brought 
it for me." The thought 
uncontrollable entered his mind and jabbed him at his heart,
causing him to unconsciously hold her tighter to him. "She was afraid I'd have 
to walk home in the rain. 
Why? Why did she think of me?" But the only answer he could come
up with was the one he didn't want to hear.

Without another word, he walked out-Misao still in his arms-to return to the 
Aoiya. The rain had 
stopped, fortunately, leaving the umbrella still unused on the wall. The
leaves of the grass twinkled with drops of water. The ground made squishing 
noises with every step that he 
took. And all the while, he could hear Misao's heart beating with his
own. It felt good holding her. It felt. like home.

***

When they reached the Aoiya, Okon and Omasu were again silenced by the 
apparition of Aoshi holding a 
sleeping Misao in his arms.

"What in Kami-sama's name." Omasu excalimed.

"You can see it too? Whew! I thought I was losing my marbles," sais Okon.

But Aoshi paid no heed to their teasing remarks. He went straight to Misao's 
room and laid her gently on 
the futon. He knelt beside her a while more, juststaring at the
heartbreaking picture that she made.

"A little girl," he repeated. "But so full of love. And so deserving of all the 
love in the world."

Of all the love I can give, he finished to himself. His eyes brightened and 
warmed to the idea.

And for the first time in a long time, he felt truly at peace. The revelation 
that he had been waiitng for, had 
been meditating for, had finally come to him. It was no use clearing
his head of her image anymore, because it was forever etched in his heart.

He brushed a damp shock of hair from her face and let his fingers linger on her 
soft cheek, And, moving 
ever so gently, he leaned over and placed a tender kiss on her lips.

Then he stood up, her warmth still on his lips, then closed the door behind him 
when he left.

At the sound of the door sliding, Misao opened her eyes. With the taste of rain 
and of her Aoshi-sama on 
her lips, she smiled.

OWARI