Misao's jaw dropped slightly in surprise. She was shocked that a little boy, less than half her age, had the guts to say what she had desperately wanted to say for a great deal of her life. Enishi smiled at him crookedly. "Exactly!" Misao said triumphantly. "I can see that you and I agree on something, Iida-kun!" They beamed at each other for a moment and Iida took a large bite out of his beancake."So who's going to explain this?" Saitoh asked scathingly as he tried to light another cigarette. Kaoru snatched it away again. "Not in my dojo, Saitoh!" She snapped. The two of them glared at each other until Saitoh finally smiled slightly and looked away.

"I suggest somebody cover the ears of the younger members of the audience," Aoshi warned, glancing purousfully at Enishi and Iida. The former obligingly covered the boy's ears after telling him firmly that it was, "...one of those things Nee-chan doesn't want you to hear."

"They either keep men as concubines like some men keep women," Aoshi began in a perfectly level voice.Even Saitoh's jaw dropped slightly. Enishi's eyes widened and his white eyebrows shot to nearly his hairline. Misao had already coverd her ears, but was flinching none the less. Kaoru and Megumi just looked plain old shocked. Kenshin blushed slightly and looked down at the table whereas Sano nearly choked on his sake."Or they," Aoshi began again. Misao closed her eyes as though by doing that she could block out the noise. Her okashira paused and glanced at her, then lowered his voice. "Or they 'breed' men. The only known marriage is the one between the royal bloodline. The rest of the time men are bought and traded to the highest bidder and kept either as concubines or in a small villiage for men until their mistress chooses to retireve them."

Misao flinched and uncovered her ears. Everybody else looked ill. "That's not the worst of it," She added, distraught. "The poor girl didn't know a thing about the rest of the world's culture and it had to be explained to her. She was shocked that a man controls a woman in this culture. She also thought that the old Okashira must be incredably powerful and there for she thought for a moment of... of... buying him," She finally spat out. Everybody's faces twisted into looks of disgust. "It gets worse," Misao went on. "She didn't understand that people weren't bought and sold. She didn't understand that men weren't possestions. For a while she tired to convince the okashira-" She added in a conspirational tone.Aoshi interrupted her with a slicing motion of his hand, which she didn't see. Misao paused and swallowed nervously. "She wanted to-"

"That's all they need to know, Misao," He said in a commanding voice. Misao jumped a little in her seat, then looked at her knees with a blush."Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away," She muttered. Aoshi heaved a small sigh.

"Well now I'm interested, Shinomori," Saitoh smirked, quickly recovering from the initial surprise. Aoshi shot a glare at Misao who had the grace to look incredebly guilty."I shouldn't have opened my mouth," Misao said quickly. "Just leave it, okay?" Saitoh gave her a condecending glare and took advantage of Kaoru's distraction to attempt to light another cigarette.Kaoru snatched the cigarette away, ground it out on an empty dish, then held out her hand commandingly. "Matches," She snapped.

"What?" Saitoh asked in a mildly amused and surprised voice."It's either that or the cigarettes," Kaoru said firmly. The two of them exchanged death-glares across the table."Himura," Enishi drawled, an eyebrow raised, "don't you think you should stop them?""Oro?" Kenshin blurted intelegently. He shook his head vehemently. "And have them look at me that way? Not on your life!""Yeah," Sano added as he took the sake glass from Yahiko. "I wouldn't put a hair near them. They'd burn you."

"Besides," Yahiko continued for Sano, "They both practiced that glare to perfection on Kenshin." He shrugged. "It's a stalemate."Enishi looked back at the two, his interest growing. "What's going on, Nii-chan?" Iida whispered around his chopsticks."Kaoru-san doesn't want Saitoh-san to smoke in her house, so she wants him to give her the matches or the cigarettes," Enishi explained softly to Iida. "Watch.""Matches. Now," Kaoru repeated in a flat voice. She twitched her fingers commandingly, gesturing for either matches of cigarettes."And what would you do with them?" Saitoh replied with a smirk.

"Keep them until you're out of my dojo.""And if I don't?"

If Kenshin blushed, as Kaoru did, it didn't show as much. "How do you mean?" He replied, unruffled."Reminds me of somebody," Saitoh grunted as he began to eat again.'Saitou Tokio?' Enishi asked Tomoe.'Who else?' She replied."I think you need your eyes checked," Misao stated firmly with a nod."What?" Saitou growled."A tanuki and a wolf look nothing alike," She pointed out with a perfectly straight face. Saitoh gave a small chuckle and looked away from Misao.

Enishi glanced around the room. Aoshi to his left, still sipping that damn tea ('Does he ever eat?' He wondered.) Misao next to him, finishing off a beancake that Iida had shyly offered her. Megumi chastized Sano, next to her, for giving Yahiko sake. "Especially if you're reaching across everybody else's food to do it!" He snapped back at her and small argument flared up under the usual lunch-time banter.

Next to Sano sat Kaoru, who was looking a little bit triumphant and smug. She glared at Yahiko as he accepted the sake from Sano. He grinned at her with a 'Can't get me!' air of self-confedence. Saitoh sat at the opposite end of the table from Aoshi, the two appearantly completly oblivious to everything else that was going on. Yahiko finally relinquished the sake to Kaoru and let Tsubame cajole him into eating '...some real food.' Kenshin conversed with Kaoru across the table. The two of them exchanged smiles and laughed.

Enishi felt a pang of loneliness and jealousy. 'If only Otomi were here,' He found himself wishing. He and Otomi were always laughing, always smiling. When he thought back to the last time they had laughed together with Iida, all of them smiling together, it seemed so far away. He was loosing the little details that he loved about Otomi. He couldn't remember now the color of her eyes when he tried. How long was her hair again? Did it come down to her hips or her knees? What was that song that she used to sing with Iida?"Nii-chan," Iida said in a happy voice near his ear. Enishi glanced up. "Can I please have some more food?"