Two Sides of a Sword: Secrets

Chapter Fifteen ~ Secrets

"Aoshi-sama, what are you doing here?"

Startled by the sound of her voice, Aoshi turned around abruptly. His wall had slightly chipped away, but it quickly repaired itself when he gazed emotionlessly into her eyes.

"Just...checking," he replied. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

She immediately got out of bed, which answered his question, and without hesitation, her hand went to his damp forehead like how a mother did to her sick child.

"Are you sure you should be up, Aoshi-sama?" Misao asked with concern. "Ling-san said that it would take time for you to recover."

"I'm fine, Misao," Aoshi assured her, turning away from her touch like he always had done. "...I just wanted to check up on you, that's all."

Check up on me? Misao repeated quizzically. "Then why did you have to bring your kodaichi?"

Aoshi stiffened at the question as he looked out at the vast beauty of the forests and cold mountain hair beyond the school. He wasn't sure how to respond; he couldn't just tell her the truth. That would mean telling Misao everything that Shinomori Aoshi kept hidden for her own safety's sake: his own dark past.

Fortunately for him, Setsuko had woken up from her nap. She sat upright in the small bed, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

"'Kaachan?" she asked the two adults standing in front of her.

Misao had been the first to react, leaving Aoshi's side.

Misao repeated Ikumi's instructions, "Set-chan, your mommy and daddy went to look for Isamu-nii."

"Isamu-nii went to play without Jun-neechan again?" Setsuko asked. It was an innocent question, but it stirred memories inside Aoshi. Memories that remained permanently scarred in his heart.

"Oniichan!"

He had hurriedly run into their new room in their new home of the Oniwanbanshuu at his sister's call. His small, slim body was on alert for the past few days after their parents' deaths, and life had not given him any breaks between Oniwanbanshuu training and taking care of his toddler little sister at the same time.

He slid the door open, revealing his sister sitting upright on the futon. Bright, glistening tears streamed down her round cheeks. Her ice blue eyes, usually cheerful, were filled with sadness and fear. The boy sighed in relief and went over to the futon, wrapping his arms around his sister.

"Had another nightmare again, Iku-chan?" he asked softly, setting her petite frame down gently on his lap.

She nodded slightly against his chest, sniffling. "Those meanies were made at otouchan and okaachan."

He nodded in understanding, letting her continue with her tale as he always did. However, she had looked up at him with eyes that were the same as his own.

"Did they go to play without us again?" she asked him as the old tears were refreshed with new ones. They were dangerously close to falling.

What could he tell her? That their mommy and daddy were dead and never coming back again? How could you explain something like that to a one-and-a-half year old? Instead the boy sighed, pulling his sister closer to him and closing his eyes. "Aa, they went to play without us again."

"Mmhm, that's right, Set-chan," Misao's reply shook Aoshi out of memory lane. "Ne, are you hungry?"

Setsuko's eyes widened with glee. "Hai!!"

"My, someone's rather refreshed after he nap," Ling's voice addressed behind Aoshi in a language that he couldn't understand.

Setsuko jumped off the bed and ran to her. "Obaachan!"

Ling picked her up in her arms effortlessly with a bright smile on her face. "You didn't say 'hi' to me when you came back, set-chan."

"Gomen ne, obaachan!" Setsuko replied back in Japanese.

Ling turned back to Aoshi and Misao, replying in their language, "I guess everything is fine. Thank you for watching Set-chan, Misao-chan."

Misao grinned. "It's no problem, Ling-san."

"Then I'll leave you two alone," Ling replied. She turned to leave with Setsuko but paused halfway. Her eyes seemed to bore into Aoshi's own, but her words were addressed to both inhabitants of the room. "Another thing. I suggest that you close the windows to your rooms. There have been a lot of intrusions lately, and I don't want to see anyone here hurt."

They both numbly nodded, and Ling took her leave. An uncomfortable silence lingered. Aoshi walked over to the window and closed them. He didn't need to close them, he knew that Misao would do it on her own accord, but it was something for him to do in the awkward silence. The silence was unnerving even for him, a person who was used to solitude most of his life. Misao just watched him, catching a glimpse of the flickering emotions in his eyes. She knew that he was hiding something from her.

"Aoshi-sama--" she hesitated as he turned back to look at her with eyes that had always made her heart flutter every time she looked into them. She bit her lower lip, turning away from his gaze. "Anno...what did Ling-san mean by intruders?"

Aoshi carefully thought about his answer. "Azuma has a wide range of communication outside of Japan. It's best to be cautious." Funny, I sound like a reporter.

She looked up at him again, curious. "Azuma?"

It was Aoshi's turn to look away as he grabbed his ni-kodaichi that he had set on the table when he came in before. "They're like us, Misao. The Azuma clan worked for the Shogunate during the Bakumatsu. However, the Oniwanbanshuu and Azuma clans have been bitter rivals since your grandfather had broken ties."

Ao-chan, take care of your sister.

He began to leave, not wanting to give anymore away, but Misao grabbed his arm. He didn't dare look at her, not wanting to see the desperation in her eyes.

"Matte, Aoshi-sama, what do you mean about my grandfather breaking ties?" she asked. When he tried to slip away from her hold, she pulled him back. "You're hiding something from me and I know it! Aoshi-sama, please tell me! Onegai!"

How long have you two been hiding here?

Aoshi slightly turned his head, still not looking at her. "It's best for you to not know, Misao..."

The old traditions have died. It's time for the youth to stand and lead our clan for the age of tomorrow.

"Doushite? Why can't I k now?"

Are you going to let the very person dear to you die?!?

Aoshi took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, pulling his arm away from her loose hold and left the room without an answer.

Husband and wife strolled through the crowded streets, searching for their lost friend.

"Mou, where do you think he went to?" Ikumi asked, covering her eyes from the sun.

"Patience is a virtue, Ikumi," Ryu replied, wrapping an arm around her slender waist. Some of the locals were giving the couple some odd stares, but he didn't really care because they didn't even understand what they were saying anyway. "Isamu couldn't have gone far. This is the only village near the school for miles."

"Patience isn't a virtue for Jun," Ikumi pointed out, resting her head against her husband's shoulder. "I feel sorry for her sometimes."

Ryu chucked and noticed Jun approaching them, tired and just about ready to give up.

"Have you found him?" she asked.

They shook their heads. Jun sighed in frustration.

"We did hear rumors the Isamu has made quite a reputation for himself, though," Ikumi remarked to cheer up her friend.

"So did I," Jun murmured. "Isamu no baka..."

Ryu looked past Jun, however, his mind registering familiarity about a young man being thrown out of a restaurant nearby along with a couple of other men. Jun and Ikumi followed his gaze and turned around only to see a crowd gathering around the restaurant's entrance. The owner stood in front of her restaurant, a fairly angry old woman with disarrayed gray hair tied up in a bun.

"Now I want to you stay out, you hear me?" the woman shouted in Cantonese. "I don't allow drunks and punks to come in and make a mess of my restaurant!"

"Oi, it's not our fault, you hag!" one of the men on the ground slurred as he was helped up by one of his friends. "You shoulda blamed the stupid kid who started it!"

"Who the hell're you calling a kid?" the young man demanded, brushing the dust off of his pants. He brushed his tangled brown hair back to rid them of irritating his eyes. "I ain't the one who tries to throw a bowl at an innocent lady."

"Shaddup, ya punk!" another of the drunken men slurred.

"Says who?"

"I don't care who started it!" the old woman screeched. A young woman appeared behind her timidly, hiding most of herself behind the old woman. "I'm not letting any drunken idiot harass my granddaughter around!"

Ikumi heard Jun utter a low growl of anger, but before she could stop her, she was gone.

The crowd was oblivious to a fairly angry young woman on the rooftops, her eyes glaring dangerously at her husband below. Without hesitation, she tossed a smoke screen at the crowd, causing panic and confusion among the public. Jun could care less, though, as she jumped off the restaurant's roof and grabbed her husband's shoulder, the only person who didn't look like he was drunk. He had sharply turned around at her touch, expecting an attack, but instead his eyes widened in surprise.

"Jun!"

"Come one," she growled, leading him away to escape.

Jun and the young man leaped across the rooftops until landing softly away from the restaurant where they met Ikumi and Ryu.

"Still the same old Isamu, I see," Ryu commented with a small smile on his face.

Isamu did a double take at seeing Ryu, his emerald eyes seemingly glowing in the semi-darkness. "R-Ryu-sensei..."

"Can we go yet?" Jun interrupted, tapping her foot impatiently.

Isamu knew that look. "Look, Jun, I can explain..."

"You can explain when we get back," Jun cut him off, turning around. "Let's go."

Isamu was about to say something to his wife in pleading his case but thought the better of it and sighed, following her out of the village. Ikumi and Ryu looked at each other and sighed as well, shaking their heads.

It was going to be a long trip home.

So close. She was this close in taking away his precious, and he had to cut it short. Kai Xuan Sai was a woman who despised using cowardly techniques of death unlike her half sister, Miyuki, but she could not go against Shinomori Aoshi head on. To do that was suicide, especially with the Wandon School backing him.

So, this was the only way she could break Shinomori Aoshi's mask: to take away the very woman that he loved.

"Kai Xuan?" a familiar voice asked behind her.

Sai jumped a little at the call of her surname, turning around to face her "master". Ling looked at her quizzically, unaware of the pouch of poison inside Sai's clothing.

"Are you done with the food, yet?" Ling asked her.

Sai turned back to the meal that she was preparing. "Um...the soup's almost done. I can bring it out to the others if you like, Ling-sensei."

"That would be very helpful of you," Ling replied with a smile, patting Sai gently on the shoulder. "Arigatou."

As soon as Ling left the kitchen, Sai turned back to the soup she had prepared, setting out the bowls. There was one particular bowl she favored over the rest. Decorating it were intricate red patterns that didn't really show anything special in particular unless one would take a closer look at the bowl. The patterns did show an abstract design of a scorpion, the trademark of the Azuma clan.

Nobody had suspected her of any evil. She was, according to the school, an orphan.

Sai calmly poured in the poison into the bowl. She ten poured the soup into every bowl accompanying the one that she would give to Misao, stirring Misao's bowl thoroughly to mix the poison inside. Sai smiled to herself. This is going to be too easy.

AN: Uh....hehehehehe. I'm too cruel, yes ^^. R&R!