Strangely, Aoshi’s silent presence calmed Misao. ‘Even though I’m acting like a baby, he’s still here!’ A small flush of happiness spread across her cheeks. ‘Maybe I don’t have to worry, even if Su-Shen was his mistress!’A sudden comotion came from the dojo. Aoshi and Misao looked up in surprise. Pounding footsteps and shouted Chinese gave them idea of what had happened. The footsteps and voices grew closer and the door was flung open. Su-Shen leapt in the room and shut the door quickly behind her. She turned and peered at the crack of the door until the footsteps passed before turning to the stunned and silent occupants of the room.

"Shinomori-kun!" she cried, clapping delightedly. "You come with me now!" She reached excitedly for his hand. He stepped out of her reach. The Chinese woman’s heavy eyebrows drew together in angered surprise, as though she hadn’t expected him to refuse her offer. She reached for his arm again, faster this time, and still he pulled away."You come!" she demanded insistently, pouting a little in frustration."Did it ever occur to you that he doesn’t want to?" Misao informed her acidicly from the other side of the room.Su-Shen glared at her. The silent hate flowed back and forth across the room between them. They glared at each other for a long time, Aoshi pretending to just ignore the whole exchange. Su-Shen finally said hautily, "Number-two girl leave now." She flicked her wrist distainfully at Misao. "Shoo!"

Misao sat up as though she had been stung. Tears pooled in her eyes before she could control them and she hastily wiped them away. "Number-two?" she repeated haltingly. "Is that what you just called me?""Go!"Su-Shen leapt at Aoshi and caught him around the arm before he could pull away. He tried to pull out of her grip, but she held on tighter than he anticipated. "Su-Shen new Number-one girl now!""I won’t stand for it!" Misao screamed.

"Number-two no stand!" Su-Shen said with a giggle. It took a moment before Misao and Aoshi got her little joke.Clentching her jaw, Misao struggled to her feet. "Why, you… dirty whore!" Aoshi stared in surprise at Misao. ‘I never knew she had quite a vocabulary like that!’"Ugly girl!" Su-Shen spat, angery again."FUCK YOU!!" Misao screamed. A sob slipped past her lips and she stared at Su-Shen fiercely.Without warning Su-Shen turned her back on Misao, grabbed Aoshi’s head and pulled him down. She closed her eyes and kissed him deeply. Misao stared in horror. The tears began to fall just as the door opened. Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko, Sano, Megumi and Enishi stood framed in the wide doorway, all of the a little breathless.

"You whore," Misao muttered again. Without taking her eyes from the scene in front of her she rumaged in her bag until she pulled out a single kunai."Misao-chan!" Kaoru gasped, "What are you doing!?"The enraged ninja threw the kunai in a perfect arc towards Su-Shen. Even though everybody knew what was happening, nobody said a word.The kunai sliced through Su-Shen’s heavy shirt at the arm. She fell away from a relieved looking Aoshi with a scream of pain, clutching at her wound. The small knife was stuck in her shoulder at least a few inches deep. Su-Shen sat on the floor in an undignified heap and withdrew the kunai from her shoulder slowly. She stared at the bloody blade, then turned her enraged glare to Misao.She leapt to her feet with a cry and dived at the unarmed girl with her own weapon. Misao grabbed the nearest thing that came to hand, her bag, and prepared to use it to protect herself.

Before she needed it, however, Aoshi stepped into Su-Shen’s way determinedly. He hit her with the back of his hand and sent her across the room to slump against the wall, unconscience again.Megumi pushed past everybody else crowding the doorway and hurried to Su-Shen’s side. She looked up at Aoshi slowly. "You’ve, you’ve nearly killed her.""Better her than Misao," he replied before walking out.Enishi moved to Misao’s side and offered her his hand to help her up. She ignored him and watched Aoshi instead. "Misao," Enishi said, "you need to let Megumi look at your leg." When she didn’t reply, he knelt by her to pick her up.Misao pushed him backwards with a hand in the center of his chest. "Leave me alone, Enishi," she told him vacantly. "I need space."She staggered out the door and followed Aoshi’s broad back with her eyes. He went into the room Kaoru and Kenshin had put aside for him at the end of the walkway. She heard his voice, then silence.

She walked across the courtyard and sat down on the porch of the opposite the building and stared up at the stars. ‘He would kill to protect me,’ Misao mused, ‘but do I want his protection? He’ll never see me as his equal if I need him to protect me all the time. And there’s more than one reason I want to be seen as his equal…’The picture of Su-Shen’s kiss floated in her mind like a bad aftertaste. Aoshi had stood in shock for a moment before his eyes began to flutter closed. That had bothered Misao most of all. How could he enjoy a kiss like that!? Su-Shen had forced herself on him when he clearly didn’t want her company! She had treated him like a pet, no, a toy! Nobody wants company like that!

‘But maybe,’ Misao realized, ‘he didn’t care. No matter what I want to believe, he’s still a very lonely man. His closest friends died, he betrayed and nearly killed his other friends. His conscience must be unbareably heavy.’ Mournfully, she thought, ‘He must be glad for company that doesn’t know a thing about him. Nothing that would make him feel any worse than he already does.’The familier smell of sandalwood incense began to drift from Aoshi’s room. Misao gradually fell into a fitful, dreamfilled sleep.Unknown to her, several people were watching that night. Enishi stood and stared at her for a long time after fatigue claimed her. If she had seen the expression on her face she might have had an urge to run to him to comfort that lost-puppy look. Finally he turned and walked sadly away.

Sano, too, was watching. He sat at the corner of the building and watched her cautiously. A few minutes after Enishi left, he walked over to her quietly and picked her up. He carried her to an empty room where Megumi sat with her medicines. The ex-gangster set his bundle down and watched silently as Megumi doctored Misao’s leg, then nodded to Sano. He picked Misao up again and carried her back to the place where she had been sitting before, then settled himself down for the night within sight of the sleeping girl.

The other pairs of watching eyes were not nearly so friendly

END CHAPTER SIX

NEXT CHAPTER: Midnight mayhem, the interrogation of Su-Shen and the first plans are made. I’d like for everybody to keeping in mind "The best laid plans of weaselels, tanuki, chickens, wolves and men oft gang alay"