**sorry! Another short one this time, but I think it's okay to end like this, I'll carry on in the next chapter ^_^;; But again a million thanks to those who've supported me - Firuze-sorry I posted without your editing this time!! Thought I was pretty slow at the fic. I'll make changes though! Chaos-Yup, Miko is not that a bad character, but she's awfully important later on. Midori-hehee...I honestly have yet to come up with a reason why Aoishi's behaving like a 'jerk' now, but I'll try to make it reasonable! and Kyouhi-opps! Uh-huh, Sou-chan is married, but from the story, it not out of his own will. Poor both of them eh? Happy reading~! Hope it's not OOC this time...=P** Chapter 10: A discarded facade Please go away. Someone please make it go away. Misao didn’t feel the pain anymore, her eyelids drooped down and stop fluttering. One minute she was screaming her lungs out as a tree was about to trample her, the next minute, she couldn’t hear or feel anything. But it was a moment of bliss, of sudden peace. Where it seems all her troubles are taken away and she was floating on a cloud, to somewhere no one can reach her...somewhere far. Seta Soujiro fled through the forest, his feet barely touching the ground. With the tenken, he disappeared from where he stood to up among the trees, lunging a girl on his shoulder as he rested to a halt on a sturdy branch. He was in a daze much accompanied by his misty eyes, but his ears were alert, allowing him to pick up the sound of a painful cry a mile away. He laid the girl against the trunk, catching a breath for himself. The tree that tumbled down splashed in the river below, but not harming the girl before it. “Are you o...” he paused as he got a clearer view of the person he saved. With a gentle touch he brushed away the dried mud that stuck on her face, she was unconscious but alive and breathing. “You’re the Oniwabanshu girl, Makimachi Misao.” Her eyelids fluttered open. ** The people crowded around the black boiling pot, like witches brewing a mysterious concoction, only this time, it was for themselves, as their only staple for the day. the weird old man had again gone to Kyoto, looking for new connections to their supplies which were badly running out. A mother cradled her crying child to sleep with no avail, an elderly leaned against the wall choking and coughing he believes to be his final breath. Everyone was in a lethargic mood, not that it was better other days but this day...they knew nothing to look forward to. “Dinner’s ready,” the head of the group called out. “Only for those who hasn’t eaten yesterday.” Food had to be divided amongst the lot, assigning a meal per person per two days. Children were an exception. “Please...” a young man cried out from his dilapidated hut made from scrap materials found along the streets. “Please let me eat today! Please..! My stomach is hurting so much...please...” Others joined in, begging for a meal barely sufficient for even a cat. The chief shook his head in despair, no comforting words could emit from his mouth, he himself one of the many who starved. Just as the cries got louder, a man ran in through the entrance. “Go...gomen nasai!” He was feeling terrified, not for himself but for the hordes of suffering people before his eyes. Never before had he felt pity for others, nor shown sympathy in the least way. He had moulded a heart of stone to love no one but Tomoe, his oneesan. The rest of the world could die for all I care. That was the reminder that pounded in his head for years and each time he killed with a smile. “I’m really really sorry! I...” He walked forward to them with the bags of food. It was body over mind at this moment, he couldn’t help feeling terribly upset for being a cause to their misery. The others gawked at the food he brought, but none could find a reason to blame him for...lateness. He never did promised them anything anyway. But for him, at that moment he so wanted to help, to reach out a hand always used for carrying the sword. His mind was a confusion but he hecked it, slowly bending down to pick up a crying child hungry for food. “Maa maa, where’s your mother? I’ll get you something to eat, ok?” The toddler buried his face in the man’s shoulder and cried, as a soothing hand stroke his back, calming him. “Gomen nasai ne, Oniisan has forgot about you. But Oniisan will not do it again, ne? So don’t cry...don’t cry...” The child stiffled and sat on his arm, slowly beaming one of the most beautiful smile Enishi has ever seen. His heart felt joy, rushing in from a long time ago. A soft tear came down, and another. Kaoru stood behind a wall, taken aback at the sight, but stunned and touched deeply by the fatherly scene a once mafia boss portrayed.. Enishi Yukishiro, a mystifying man indeed. But above all, at that moment he was wonderful man in her eyes. She strode forward and without a word, carried the child from his arms and tilted her head to one side, gesturing him to take care of the rest. Enishi let out a gasp of shock when he saw her, but seeing her understanding smile, grinned and nodded back. The child, tired and sleepy, snuggled in a Kaoru’s silk kimono like a wrapping of a blanket, closed his eyes and dozed off comfortably. Together without a need for explanation, they served the people in Rakuninmura, Enishi cooking and Kaoru tending to the sick. The grateful and delighted expressions kept them going, a payment no amount of money could buy. ** “You...you are...” Misao whispered, finding it hard to speak from her sore voice. Her hands behind tried to push her to a sitting position, but gave way, she was temporarily too weak. “Don’t move now,” a hand on her shoulders gently lowered her down. “Relax for a while.” Soujiro had placed both of them on the soft ground, it being safer than up among the trees. As much as she wanted to shove the hand away and stand, she knew she could not, and had to rest for now. Her whole body ached from the previous incident, but her heart seemed to began to heal. Misao touched her forehead and covered her eyes, laughing softly. “Hahaa...an Oniwabanshu leader, saved again by another Juppongatana member. What’s to become of me? Hahaa...” She snickered cruely of herself as raindrops flowed down the leaves from the tree and splattered on her face, cleansing her from the dirt she accumulated. Her uniform stuck to her wet body, sores and bruises were present on her legs and arms. But one deep cut on her knee was being prodded. “Oww!! What do you think you’re doing?” Misao pulled away from Soujiro. It was then she noticed her legs were resting on his pants and he was treating her injury. “I told you not to move” he reminded her, the trademark smiles he usually wore becoming serious, but not angry. She winced at the pain, however calmed herself down to be obedient for once. From what she could remember, it must have been Soujiro who saved her. Whatever...whoever, I can’t really be bothered. Hidden from his view, Misao blushed, she had never been so close to a man before. “There, but I’m not sure if you’re okay anywhere else.” Soujiro gently put her legs down on the ground. “If everything else is fine, I think I’ll go now.” he started to turn to walk away. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts he couldn’t perceive it’s meaning, the past haunted him and wouldn’t let go. In a few moments, he would forget about saving a girl from the forest, if it wasn’t for her... “Wait!” Misao called out, grabbing a trunk to help her stand. She needed rest but would not take any. “You’ve...helped me. Thanks.” “It was nothing.” Soujiro glanced back at her and continued walking. He didn’t know why his fingers that brushed her face were now rubbing against each other, as if retaining something. “No, you’ve saved my life, much as I hate to admit it. Really...thanks.” Misao whispered, her voice getting softer as she remembered what Soujiro had saved her from and how she had gotten that state. She felt at a lost, didn’t want to go back to the Aoiya and see familiar faces that would seem to hurt her more. In truth she hadn’t found a reason for Aoishi’s sudden disappearance, but it did not matter. He disappeareed, period. And it’s not the first time. some limit had been crossed and she’s not in the mood of searching for him again. He looked at her lost in another world, and smiled inwardly. He was too, lost in his own world of confusions, never seem to be able to shake of a past he felt regretful about. To see Miko’s sad face of doing a duty he could not do, it was painful to head back home. “Ano...are you going anywhere for now?” “No, and you?” “No, would you like to join me?” “Yes.” Hence both of them, a slight distance apart, walked into the forest with no direction to care about.