We were in the supermarket slowly walking down the isles with Izumi in front of us pushing a smaller trolley around. I was breathing calming but feeling totally nervous at not knowing what Aoshi was thinking about.

"Beat them up?" I turned my gaze to see Aoshi’s eyes staring into mine questioningly as he finally spoke.

"Ah, that’s not exactly how it was." I spoke softly, feeling embarrassed.

"Oh?" I knew that tone in his voice; it was one of complete interest.

"Alright so he was being a bastard, but I couldn’t just let it go by. You are my friend and I’ll protect you and Izumi from their speculations whether you want me to or not." I stopped my walking when I noticed Aoshi wasn’t walking beside me. I turned to see him standing still just looking at me silently. I walked up to him leaving the trolley behind and spoke quietly up at him.

"What’s wrong?"

"You don’t even know me Misao." I placed my hand on his cheek bravely and watched his eyes change from light to dark and then back to light again.

"I know, but I won’t be like them Aoshi. I didn’t believe what Kaoru had said about you. She didn’t know anything about you so why should I believe her. I’d like to be your friend and Izumi’s too. I am not like them and never will be."

"Look Misao! Look what I got you!" I stepped away from Aoshi and bent down to Izumi who was holding some purple flowers for me. She thrust them into my hands while smiling brightly at me.

"Why thank you Izumi but what are they for?" I asked her curiously.

"You helped daddy today and I thought they were really pretty and you are really pretty too Misao so I just got them for you." And at that she took off and ran back to the little trolley she was pushing around. I stood up and smelled the fragrance and placed them in the trolley.

"Izumi loves purple." Aoshi spoke while walking with me.

"Just like her mother." I spoke back.

"How?" I looked up into his eyes to find a confused expression displayed there and explained how I knew that.

"Izumi told me in the park the other day. I asked her what her favourite flower was and she said purple because that what her mother’s favourite colour was."

"Are you ready to go? I know Izumi is probably itching to go to the park and eat some ice cream." I was shocked that he was able to change subjects so fast as if nothing happened. I silently nodded and walked to the checkout while Aoshi went on the search for Izumi.

* * * *

"Chocolate please." Izumi spoke to the gentlemen about what flavor she would like as ice cream.

"Daddy can I have two scoops? Pleeeeeeeaaaaaasssssseeeeeee?"

"I don’t know Izumi…will you be able to fit two in?" Aoshi spoke teasingly. I began laughing as Izumi nodded her head and jumped up and down on the pavement.

"Why don’t you ask your mummy sweetie?" I stopped laughing when I heard that. In the corner of my eye I could see Aoshi staring quietly at me and then looking over at the stall man. I looked down to see Izumi smiling brightly up at me. She giggled in complete joy at hearing that and spoke as loudly as possible so everyone in ear range would be able to hear her.

"Mummy, can I have two scoops of ice cream?" I could feel tears building up in my eyes and looked up into Aoshi’s. His faced was surprised at this turn of events, at the emotion I was showing and at what Izumi yelled as well. I stepped away from them and spoke softly while bowing my head.

"I have…I have to go…" And with that I took off not having a clue as to where I was running. I could hear the faint sound of Izumi calling me back but I shut it off and ran even faster.

* * * *

Hours past and the rain continued to fall down heavily as I trudged back to the apartments. I had woken up in the hospital, but was later discharged as they needed the spare bed for emergencies and I wasn’t an emergency. I glanced at the clock they had on the wall and realised it was 3 in the morning. I walked into some public toilets on the way home and noticed I had lost my sling bag somewhere. That’s why no one was at the hospital waiting for me to wake up. No one knew who I was. I found a few cuts and bruises on my exposed body. I had a bandage around my right wrist, a large bruise on my cheek and a butterfly stitch on my forehead just above my left eye. What the hell happened to me? I silently wandered. My body ached all over but I left the toilets and began walking home in the rain again.

I could see the apartment blocks and I was now standing in front of all the stairs leading up to my apartment. So many stairs, I pondered to myself. I remembered I had no keys to get into the unit and next thing I knew I was knocking on Aoshi’s door. It opened and there was a bright light coming from inside the room and I heard a soft gasp.

"I’m sorry for intruding…" and with that I fell forward falling to the ground but someone held me up and I knew nothing but darkness.

* * * *

"Misao? Misao please wake up." I was coaxed from my darkness by Izumi’s voice calling me.

I gasped in some air and snapped my eyes open to see Izumi sitting on the unfamiliar bed that I was lying down in. I looked around the room to see it was rather dark as the curtains where not drawn open as a dull light had been turned on in the far corner.

"I’ll just go get daddy." Izumi spoke quietly and ran out the room. I looked to the side of me and found a glass of water on a bench. I was about to grab it when I heard a small knock on the door and I looked over to see Aoshi standing in the entrance.

"Welcome back Misao." He spoke quietly. I bit my lip nervously when he came closer and placed my hands under the blankets as they started to shake when he sat down on the bed beside me. I watched wide-eyed as one of his hands brushed over my injured cheek comfortingly. I closed my eyes and a sigh escaped my voice at the soothing stroke he was placing on my cheek and waited for him to speak again.

"Misao what happen to you?" I shock my head and shrugged my shoulders indicating I didn’t know. I had lost my voice as he held so much concern in his at seeing me hurt. I spoke quietly trying to calm my nerves.

"Maybe…maybe I should sleep and see if it comes to me then?" I opened my eyes to look up at Aoshi. He nodded and got up to leave but my hands came out of hiding on their own accord and grabbed onto his larger hand.

"Please stay with me? At least until I fall asleep." I knew I was blushing lightly at my request but he sat down on the floor beside the bed and brushed my bangs away from my eyes soothingly. I closed them and took a few deep breaths and concentrated on Aoshi’s soothing fingers brushing lightly over my cheek, forehead and into my hair. I fell into a deep sleep that was ruined by flashes of what happened to me.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" I screamed and jolted awake and ran from the room into the main area. I stood still shaking profusely and began falling to the carpet but was held up by Aoshi who was now standing in front of me. I looked up into his dark eyes. When were they ever dark? I silently thought.

"Misao, what happened? Did you remember?" He spoke urgently to me.

"I must…go to the hospital." I spoke into his chest still shaking.

"Are you hurt Misao?" He whispered into my ear.

"I think they…I think they r-raped me." I stammered out and began to cry. I was lifted up into his arms and he carried me to the front door while speaking to Izumi quietly. I was that locked away in my own thoughts I didn’t even understand what he was saying.

* * * *

"Misao open your eyes." I complied with Aoshi’s wishes as I found myself sitting in his lap as he was sitting on a pale blue bench in a hospital.

"The doctor can see you Misao. She’ll see whether…" I nodded my head in understanding and let go of him and walked to where a woman stood and she led me into an examination room.

"Ms Makimachi, I’m Dr Megumi Takani. I’ll be doing your examination." I nodded my head and sat on the table.

* * * *

"Misao wake up I got you a present, see?" I opened my eyes to see Izumi sitting on the hospital bed with me. She held some purple flowers for and her small white bear.

"Here you go Misao, he’ll help keep you safe." I took the bear and placed it under the covers with me while smiling at her tiredly. Dr Takani placed me in for 24 hours just to see how bad my injuries were.

"Thank you Izumi. Where’s your dad?"

"He’s outside talking to Uncle Sano."

"Uncle Sano?"

She was about to reply but Aoshi walked in with another man, around his age and just a bit shorter then him. He wore a dark red jacket with black pants and a black shirt. His hair was sticking up everywhere and a red bandanna was placed around his head one of the red straps falling over his shoulder. He nodded his head silently at me and I smiled a tiredly back at him.

"Izumi why don’t you take Uncle Sano to get a drink?" Aoshi spoke.

"Okay." Izumi spoke while being picked up by him and walking out the room closing the door behind him. Aoshi walked closer and took the purple flowers from my hands and placed them on the bench next to me.

"Misao are yo-" He got no further as Dr. Takani walked into the room.

"Ms Makimachi I have your results. Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you had company. Would you like me to come back later?" She spoke when she realised Aoshi was in the room.

"No Megumi it’s alright, I’ll leave. I’ll see you later Misao." Aoshi spoke, knowing who this woman was and left the room.

I turned my gaze back to Dr. Takani and took a deep breath waiting for her to tell me my news.

"Ms Makimachi we ran some tests and found no traces of semen, so you weren’t sexually assaulted. You do have a couple of cracked ribs and some bruises so I suggest you take it easy for a while. No running around for awhile, so we can get your rib’s healed properly. You have a few deep cuts on your back, which you will need someone to help you change bandages and ointment. The wound on your head is healing nicely, other then that you are in perfect health." I nodded my head at her and the room fell silent until...

"Aunt Megumi can I come see Misao now?" I saw Izumi’s head pop in between the gap when she pushed the door open.

"Of course Izumi come in." Megumi smiled sweetly. She lifted her up and placed her on the bed and excused herself to check on other patients.

"Misao can I stay here with you?" I nodded my head tiredly and lifted up the blanket so Izumi could climb in. She wrapped her hand over the bear that was lying down with me and I wrapped my arms around her loosely and fell asleep too.

* * * *

"Hey sleepy heads, wake up, its time to go home." I opened my eyes to see 3 blurry figures standing near the bed. I let go of Izumi and Aoshi picked her up as she was still sleeping away. I got out of the bed and stood groggily on my feet.

"Misao this is Sano and Megumi. I went to school with them."

I smiled at both of them and closed my eyes for a brief second and saw the other figure from the park, the flowing bandanna. I walked forward getting closer to Sano and hugged him kindly while speaking to him.

"Thank you for saving me."

"Ah...sure…no problem Misao." I let go as we all laughed at Sano, who was feeling a bit awkward at the moment.

I grabbed the bag from Aoshi and went into the bathroom. I noticed that a rather baggy shirt was the only thing in the bag. You have no keys remember Misao; a small voice spoke inside my head. I shrugged my shoulders and placed it on. It was black and quite thin too. The long sleeves fell over my hands as well and it went half way down my thighs. I entered the room again to find Aoshi hugging Izumi to his chest while rubbing her back. He looked up when I closed the door and chuckled lightly at the way I looked.

"I’m sorry, it’s not really that good. Your key to the unit won’t be ready until tomorrow so I had to find something from my own clothes that would at least cover you up. Here put this on as well, its quite cool outside." I grabbed his trench coat and placed it on. I giggled while Aoshi smiled when the coat was rather large for a person my size. It draped to the floor so I lifted it up in my arms and walked out the door with Aoshi behind me.

* * * *

I sighed as we had arrived back at the apartments and Aoshi was unlocking his door and let me go inside first. I sat down on the couch as Aoshi placed Izumi in her room. I was coaxed out of the chair seconds later by Aoshi and he led me to the bathroom. I gave him a curious look as to what he was thinking and he replied back.

"Megumi said you should take a nice warm bath to help ease the tension out of your muscles." I nodded my head and closed the door behind me once I was inside.

* * * *

Time passed rather quickly as the water was now lukewarm and almost all the bubbles were gone. I decided to get out before I started to wrinkle up. I dried my hair so that it fell around me in a big mess and was now only damp. I wrapped one of the large blue towels around myself to hide my nakedness as I was only wearing underwear and walked out into the main room.

Aoshi stepped into the room at the same time and we both stood frozen just staring at each other. I self-consciously hugged myself tightly with the towel hoping he wouldn’t notice.

"You don’t have to do that. I won’t be like them Misao." I blushed when he knew what I had done. I guess I shouldn’t really put anything past him. I knew I needed new bandages on my cuts and sat down on the table with my back turned to him. I grabbed the bandages and ointment and placed them behind me and lowered the towel so it fell down my back loosely to reveal my cuts. I turned my head to look over my shoulder and could see a faint blush covering Aoshi’s cheeks.

"Can you help me?" I spoke shyly at him. I knew I was blushing, but I watched Aoshi nod his head as his blush disappeared. He walked closer to the coffee table and kneeled on the carpeted floor. His fingertips brushed my shoulders lightly as he gathered up my mass of hair and placed it over my left shoulder.

"These cuts look pretty bad Misao." I couldn’t help but let out a rugged sob and placed one of my hands over my mouth to try and muffle the others that were following. I closed my eyes tightly and I felt Aoshi turn me around to face him properly. One of his hands brushed my cheek and coaxed my eyes to open and look down at him. Those intense eyes were frowning sadly at me and I watched as he came even closer and wrapped me up in a loose hug as not to hurt me. One of my hands still held my towel closed while the other wrapped around Aoshi and held onto the back of his shirt tightly while I sobbed into his chest.

"Misao I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant they must hurt quite a bit." I blushed red when I finally understood. I bit my lip to stop my crying and nodded my head silently against his chest. I felt a cold hand press on one of my injuries too hard and I gasped loudly while pressing my body into Aoshi’s to get away from that hand. I heard a small sound come from his throat as he lost his balance by being so unprepared at what happened and he fell to the ground taking me with him. We were lying in a rather embarrassing position with him lying under me and my lower body was between his legs as my chest was pushed tightly against his and my hair fell around us in a mess. We could do nothing but breathe heavily and stare silently into each other’s eyes.

"Misao I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it." I whipped my head around to see Izumi standing near us. Aoshi regained his composure and pushed us up into a sitting position and then lifted me to my feet.

"It’s alright Izumi, they just hurt a bit that’s all." I spoke quietly to her while leaning against Aoshi for support.

"Izumi can you go into my room and get my coat for me?" Aoshi had spoken.

"Okay daddy." I watched as Izumi walked into Aoshi’s dark room. I lifted my head to look up at Aoshi and saw that he was staring down at me. I gathered my courage and lifted my hand to brush my fingertips over his cheek lightly. Those intense eyes were changing colours again.

"Why does that happen?" I spoke softly to myself but I knew Aoshi heard me as he tilted his head to the side to stare at me in confusion.

"Daddy I found it." I stepped away before Izumi came into the room. I watched as she dragged Aoshi’s coat into the lounge area, as it was too heavy for her to carry. Aoshi picked it up and placed it over my shoulders. I placed one arm in a sleeve while the other held the towel. I covered myself up modestly and then slipped my other arm into the other sleeve and the towel dropped to the carpet around my ankles. Aoshi bent down and picked it up walking to the bathroom to place it on the rail to dry. I buttoned up the coat and watched as Aoshi walked back over to me and turned me in the direction of his room.

"Megumi said you should rest. I’ll place your bandages on when you wake up okay Misao?" I nodded my head and walked to the room and lay on my stomach on his bed. It was so comfortable and it smelt just like him too. I closed my eyes and sighed out loud, his scent was sending me off into a blissful slumber.

* * * *

I woke to hear a soft knock on Aoshi’s front door, as the bedroom door was slightly ajar.

"Come in Megumi." The doctor had come to Aoshi’s place to see how I was going.

"So where is she?"

"She’s sleeping in my room." Aoshi replied to her question.

"Oh…" Was that sadness in her voice, I silently wandered.

"Come on Meg, don’t be like that. What would Sano think?" I heard Aoshi say to her.

"It’s okay really. He knows that I’ll always love you. I am really happy with him, although he can be an idiot sometimes, but he’s my idiot." She giggled a little. My breathing became ragged when I traced her voice through my head ‘I’ll always love you.’

"So how’s Izumi doing? I haven’t had time to see her in ages." She spoke seriously again.

"Actually she’s asleep with Misao. She wanted to be there when she woke up. Izumi has sure grown fond of her, I even suspect she loves her and thinks of her as the mother she’s never had. She actually called her mummy the other day." My heart pounded faster at what he said and I looked to the side and found Izumi curled up holding her white bear to her chest and fast asleep beside me.

"Does that bother you Aoshi?" Megumi had asked him.

"I don’t know…" His voice was quiet and that’s when I found myself at the door looking at them. My heart clenched when Megumi wrapped him up in her hug. She was tall so it was easy for her to do so, but I still felt hurt. My heart stopped when he placed his arms around her as well, responding to the hug.

"Aunt Meguuuuuuummmmmmmmiiiiiiiiiiii!" I jolted a little at being surprised by Izumi as she stood next to me and ran to her "Aunt". Megumi let go of Aoshi and picked Izumi up and took her off to the kitchen to get a drink. I stood staring at Aoshi who did exactly the same and I finally spoke the first thing that came to my mind.

"Do you have my key?" He nodded and pointed to the table and I picked it up and walked out the door without saying anything more. It was quite rude of me but I’ll apologise later on. Right now I wanted to change into my own comfortable clothes. I walked slowly up the stairs but stopped when I heard Megumi’s voice.

"Ms Makimachi? I must check your injuries, may I come up?"

"Sure." I spoke back half-heartedly feeling quite tired. I felt like I could sleep for months. I unlocked the door and stepped inside followed by Megumi as she placed the bandages and ointment on the table and waited for me to change and come back out. I dressed in a long jumper and some slacks. I kneeled down in front of her and pulled up my jumper for her to place the ointment and bandages on.

"You are most lucky Misao." Megumi spoke to me. I said nothing in return. Silence passed between us until Megumi spoke abruptly.

"Please don’t hurt him Misao. He may not show it but Aoshi really does need to be taken care of and loved."

"How can you say that when you are clearly hurting Sano?" I spoke with my eyes closed.

"WHAT?" she yelled in disbelief at me and pressed on my wound a little too hard. I flinched but spoke up while turning to face her.

"Watch him Ms Megumi. I may not know him well, or you for that matter but just watch him. Stay awake one night and listen to him talk. Everyone speaks in his or her dreams and I know he’ll speak of you…and Aoshi. Don’t you understand that he is hurt that you’ll always love Aoshi and he’ll never be able to compare!"

"Don’t be ridiculous Misao." Megumi huffed at me while standing up.

"Have you told him you love him Ms Megumi? Have you told him that you want to be with him and only him? Have you told him that no matter whom you have loved in the past, he’ll be the only one for you? HAVE YOU!?" I spoke while brushing some tears away from my eyes.

I silently watched as she walked to the door and opened it up.

"Ms Megumi, I’m sorry." I spoke apologising to her about the way I had acted seconds ago. I’ve never spoken so rudely to anyone before, well beside that idiot at the university. She turned around and smiled at me while talking motherly as she threw my words back at me.

"Have you told Aoshi how you feel Misao? I know you haven’t known each other long but have you told him how much you care, maybe even love him Misao?" I blushed lightly at what she said but shock my head negatively.

"I’m too afraid. I keep thinking I’ll loose him as my friend." I spoke while sitting down on the coffee table.

"Misao, you must try. I know it is better to tell someone how you feel or else its going to eat you up inside. I never lost him, as my friend and I know deep inside his feelings for you are more then just a friend. I can feel it and I can see it in his eyes." I looked up and realised that Megumi had gone but left my door open as if indicating to me that I should go downstairs and tell him everything.

* * * *

Two hours past and I stood in front of Aoshi’s door. My right hand shook lightly as my left hand was holding my injured right side. I took a deep breath and knocked softly on the door. I heard some muffled speaking coming from behind the door and my mind raced with ideas, What was I going to do when he opened the door? Was I going to apologise for acting so rude hours ago? Thoughts were cut off when the door opened to reveal Aoshi dressed in a pair of black pants with his hair-dripping wet and a towel draped around his neck. It was clear I had disturbed his shower. Before I could even think about what I was doing I walked closer to him, stretched up on my toes to gain more height, placed my right arm around his neck and kissed him on the lips. I heard his soft gasp of surprise and tears cascaded down my face, as he didn’t respond at all. I broke away from him and bowed my head apologetically.

"I’m sorry Aoshi." I walked away, wanting to leave the apartments to go and sit in the park.

"Misao?" I heard his confused voice but I ran away from him and down the street to the park. A few of the mothers smiled at me but frowned when they realised I was crying. I shrugged them off and ran deeper into the park area hiding in one of the trees crying softly to myself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I chanted in my mind.

* * * *

Minutes passed and I finally stopped crying when I heard a voice call out my name.

"Misao? Are you there?" It was Aoshi.

"Oh come on Misao, you can’t hide from me. All the mothers saw you go this way." Silence filled the area, as I didn’t speak.

"FINE! I’ll find you my own damn way!" I was a bit shocked when he spoke so angrily.

"Found you." I screamed as he was sitting right beside me. I never lost my balance as he was holding onto my shoulder securely. My eyes widened when he picked me up and jumped to the ground placing me back on my feet.

"What is it Aoshi?" I spoke while bowing my head slightly not wanting to look up into his eyes.

"What is it with you Misao! One minute you show all these emotions, becoming all concerned and even sad for me, you cry for me and yourself, then you kiss me and now your acting all cold towards me. Why can’t you tell me how you feel!" He spoke irritated to me. My body shook and I blurted out what I was feeling.

"Every since I meet you I knew there was something special about you. I saw it in the way you are with Izumi. You are the most gorgeous man I’ve ever met in my entire life Aoshi! I see how much love you have for Izumi because I see it in your eyes and the way you talk. Those intense eyes could pierce through anyone’s soul, because they certainly went deeply into mine. You want to know how I feel? Fine I’ll tell you! I love you Aoshi! I LOVE YOU AND IZUMI OKAY!"

I hugged myself tightly as I had closed my eyes and turned my head to the side waiting for laughter…waiting for anything. Minutes went by and I was wrapped up in a warm hug. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Aoshi’s eyes changing colours while staring silently at me with a small smile tugging his lips.

"Why? Why do they do that?" I spoke quietly again pondering on why his eyes kept changing from light to dark. I was unable to say anything more as Aoshi’s warm lips were pressed softly against mine. Even though I gasped in surprise I snapped my eyes closed and wrapped my arms around his neck and stretched up to pull him closer. His soft kisses turned heated and possessive and I could do nothing but return them. We parted to gain our breaths and I smiled up at him while he ran his fingers down my cheek. Izumi calling out to Aoshi interrupted our moment.

"DADDY? HAVE YOU TOLD MISAO YET? I WANNA GO HOME SOMETIME TODAY!" I laughed at what Izumi said and looked up to see Aoshi blushing lightly. My lips parted to speak but he stopped me by kissing them once more.

"Misao, even though we haven’t known each other long, I feel the same way as you. I love you Misao." My face lit up in happiness as I hugged him and whispered the same in his ear again. We walked out of the area to find Izumi holding some flowers out for me to take. Aoshi picked her up and held her in front of me so she could speak.

"Misao can I say you’re my mummy? Please?" I stood a bit shocked at her question, but stared into her innocent eyes and then darted mine over to Aoshi’s. His glittered with happiness and I nodded my head in answer to her question. She giggled happily and Aoshi placed her into my arms as we walked back to the unit.

* * * *

"Mummy do you have to go?" Izumi spoke to me while hugging my leg when I placed her on the ground as we arrived at Aoshi’s apartment. It took me a few seconds to get over her calling me "mummy" and then I spoke while bending down to her level.

"I’ve got to go to sleep Izumi, Your daddy and I have classes tomorrow."

"But why can’t you sleep in daddy’s room with him though?" I looked up to see Aoshi staring intently at me and I knew my cheeks were stained red because of what Izumi had said. I finally found my voice and reasoned with her.

"I’ll come and stay next week Izumi, I promise."

"Oh all right…" Izumi pouted cutely at me. I sighed and stood up walking up the stairs while speaking once more.

"Stay right there Izumi, I’ve got a present for you."

* * * *

I came back down a minute later holding a small purple bear, which was rather old as it had lost an arm and its nose.

"Now Izumi, this is Shin, he’s my favourite bear in the whole world as my brother gave this to me when I was first born. My brother had him when he was a baby and I did as well. Now I’m giving him to you to look after okay? He’ll keep you company when I can’t be with you." I watched as Izumi hugged it to her chest and walked inside smiling brightly.

"Shin?" Aoshi asked with an eyebrow raised.

"So its coincidence." I replied back. I stood looking up at him as he brushed his fingers over my cheek and then down my neck and then back up to my cheek. I narrowed my eyes annoyingly and spoke to him.

"Will you stop doing that and just kiss me?" I watched him chuckle as he lowered his head to bring his lips closer to mine. Our lips met and it still felt like an electric shock was running through my entire body when he touched me. I sighed contently when he pulled away and quickly hugged him around the waist and then let go.

"I’ll see you when I see you." I spoke quietly and then ran up the stairs to my unit without looking back as I knew I was blushing yet again! Misao are you ever going to stop blushing in front of him? I thought for a moment. I closed my eyes when I sat on the edge of my bed and could still feel him hug me and kiss me in the park. I lay down on my side, my cheeks burning once more. Probably not, I concluded.

* * * *

TBC…

* * * *