From: Ardith Hi guys. I wrote the final chapter to A New Era... This isn't it, though. It got too long, so I split it into three parts. The very last part is all done. So is the first. I just have to write the middle. ^^ Here is Part 10... which was the last one! Sorry I haven't made any comments. I've been sitting in front of my computer sweating this out. It's almost over. Maybe I'll finish by tonight. I'll put it all up, if I am. The rest of it is up on my fanfic page: http://www.webslacker.com/ardith/fanfics/yokoff.html A New Era: Part 10 -- Sanctuary "Geez. You, too?" Yahiko stared at their guest in surprise. "Is there some sort of disease out there? You're huge!" Misao stood, talking with Megumi, her stomach rounding in the front. Kaoru hit him lightly on the head to remind him of his manners. "Ow. Congratulations." Sanosuke smirked evilly. "If you don't know the how's and whys it happens at your age, kid, I don't know what to tell you." His own children were crawling around with Kenshin and Kaoru's brood. His eldest son, acting as the preverbal oldest child, acted as ringleader of the gang. He suddenly shuddered with a premonition of the future. Trouble. With a capital "T". "Maybe Yahiko-chan is still too young to understand," Misao replied, patting her belly blissfully. "It's a wonderful feeling." She looked around, the sights and sounds of children made her feel so happy. More content than she could ever have imagined as that sixteen year old searching far and wide for her Aoshi-sama. "There is nothing like knowing you are going to be a parent. Nothing. I can't tell you how happy I am." "Please don't," he stopped her, waving his hands frantically to ward off a lecture. "Oh, I understand." Yahiko nodded emphatically. "You want to breed one of those little monsters." He wasn't going to forget so soon what position he woke up in that afternoon. His hair had been sopping wet from baby drool. "More than anything." Misao fairly glowed. For a second, Yahiko blinked in surprise. She looked so different from that girl that Yahiko had gotten to know all those years ago. Her hair was pulled up into a loose bun, the tendrils framing her pretty face. She had grown up so much. And she was going to be a mother. It was hard to take in. "Well, I'm gonna wait," Yahiko said decisively. "Tsubame is going to make you wait. I heard that she's learning all those languages," Sano said around the straw he had in his mouth. "You picked a girl who's wants to change the world, bless her little heart. Of course, I don't get at all what she sees in you." "Shut up, Sano! I-" "Tsubame is a smart girl. I think it's great that she's going to do what she wants. Yahiko is very lucky to have her," Megumi said calmly. "As long as she is happy. It was so hard for her to leave and work for the Akabeko. If she wants to get an education, then she has just as much right to it as a man. More, I'd say," Kaoru put in from the kitchen. "Education only makes a person better." "I..." Yahiko swallowed quickly. How did they end up on this subject. He was only sixteen. It wasn't as if Tsubame was going away anytime soon. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen, with or without those busybodies interfering. "Just leave us alone!" "Whatever makes you happy, Yahiko-chan," Misao said with a grin. It was just too fun to make fun of Yahiko. She had missed doing that when he went back to Tokyo. But then, she had her hands full trying to chase down Aoshi. "Misao, you shouldn't be standing for too long," Aoshi said from the doorway. He quickly crossed to her and lifted her of the ground, gently placing her a zabuton at the table. "You should be resting after our trip." "Aoshi-sama, I'm fine. Megumi checked me over as soon as we got here," she smiled reassuringly at her husband. He worried so much about her, especially now. The first time they tried to have a baby.... They had both been crushed when she had the miscarriage; she had only been three months along and they had been so very happy. But an epidemic of cholera had struck. It had been deadly. She had been so weak, so sick, that Aoshi thought he would lose her forever. Her beautiful, expressive face was so still at times, he had to watch closely to see if she breathed. He prayed to any god that would listen to save her. He was nothing without her. They did, but it cost the life of their unborn child. He watched in horror as her small body wrack with pains. She had been so weak already. So close to death... He could only hold her hand as she whimpered and then screamed as she lost the baby. Every sound she made cut into his heart. Even though the doctor insisted he leave, he wouldn't. If she were to die, he would be with her. But she lived through the pain. He held her as she held him as they both cried. Still, life went on. When Misao announced in spring that she was again carrying the heir to the Oniwabanshu, he quickly decided that they should be somewhere that had access to the best (and most trusted) medical care possible. So he wrote to Himura and to Sagara Megumi and packed his wife up for Tokyo. Misao thought that they were here for a visit; Aoshi knew that they were going to stay until the baby was born. "Misao has about two more months to go. She is very healthy. I think that she will be fine," Megumi assured him. She knew all about what happened last winter. It hurt her to think that they had suffered so much. Misao had been so sick, too. She would have rushed down there, if they called, if there had been time. But the epidemic was fast moving. It was over before they could get word to her. "The baby seems to be quite strong." "He kicks and kicks and kicks. He'll be a good jumper." Ojiya was already picking out a tree to plant at his birth, per ninja tradition, so that he could begin his training, as an heir. "Aoshi, I'm fine. The baby is fine." She placed his hand on her belly. Their child gave him a kick, making them both smile. "See. Now, let's eat. Junior is hungry." Kenshin put down a large bowl of rice in front of her. "That is a lot, Himura!" "It's the pregnant ladies' bowl. We learned that appetites run wild when the girls are pregnant," Sano replied, sticking his foot in it. "I mean.... Well, you get hungry." "Usually, Misao just asks for another serving," Aoshi said, sipping tea. Misao was laughing at the overflowing bowl of rice. "Itatakimasu!!!" she said with relish and began to eat. ***** Rain.... Yahiko looked up a the suddenly darkening skies. He hated the rain. It always reminded him of the night his mother died. It had been pouring that night. She looked so fragile in his young eyes, her vitality sucked out of her from having to try to make ends meet. Before the Restoration, Myojin Hitomi had been the pampered daughter, then wife of a Tokyo samurai. After...they had nothing left. His father had died in some uprising, leaving them alone in the world. His mother had to make ends meet, she wanted them to survive. So she sold herself. But it took a toll on her. She became ill and couldn't recover. You didn't want to. You were tired, okasan. But she left him. Then the gang took him and made his life hell. He had wanted to hate her, but he couldn't. She had tried so hard, loved him so much. It was not her fault the world had changed, leaving her with little to support her. "Why are you sitting here, Yahiko?" Misao eased her bulk down beside him, rubbing at her aching back. It had been a month since they came from Kyoto. Aoshi had taken to helping Kenshin work around the house as Kaoru taught the students with him. Misao often went to help Megumi at the clinic. It was getting harder for her to move around, though. He could tell Aoshi wanted to make her stop going, but Misao wanted to help and he found it hard to say no to her. Today, Kaoru suggested a compromise. Sano brought the children to the dojo and Misao would watch them all. The rain had made them sleepy. Getting Shinnosuke, Seinosuke, Keiko, Ryo, Minoru and Mikako to nap was easier than jumping a wall. When one was not pregnant, that is.... She had come out to get some air, only to find Yahiko alone. The look on his face made her want to hug him and cry. "I was just thinking." Yahiko had looked so sad, staring out into the rain. Sad and young. "About?" "Being a parent. My mother died so young." "Because of what happened after the Restoration?" Misao watched as so many people were displaced, but the Restoration had been right on so many levels. The poor people had been suffering for too long. "It was hard on the samurai class." Yahiko's parents had been born and bred in that class. There were rich samurai and there were poor samurai, but all were proud of there heritage, their past. "Yeah. The samurai fought on both sides, you know. And in the end, they were tossed away." Disenfranchised by the Meiji government... "I- She was like a ghost in the end. She didn't want to be in this world. My father was gone...." "But she had you." "Yeah. Little things remind me of her. It's just... I... It's hard to remember her face. I hardly knew my father, but I feel like I'm losing her." She wanted me to be strong. To live. "Yahiko." Misao knew how that felt. She had lost her parents when she was young, too. "She loved you. My parents died when I was little more than a baby. Just remember the love." Misao sighed, "It was hard having to grow up in these times." Misao put a protective hand over her belly and sighed. "I hope that if something were to happen to us... that someone could help them grow up. Like Kaoru and Kenshin and everyone helped you." "Yeah...." Yahiko leaned back and watched the rain fall. "So you had Okina and the rest of the Oniwabanshu. Didn't Aoshi feel like a pervert, marrying you? I mean, he was probably there when you were born." He flinched, waiting for the attack, but it never happened. He turned to stare at her as she laughed. "Aoshi-sama tried really hard to get away. It was hard for him to be part of us again. He felt like he did too much damage to our relationship. Stupid." "He did try to kill Okina." "If he wanted him dead, he would have died. Aoshi-sama had to forgive himself. He was stubborn about admitting that he loved me, too." "How did you pull that one?" "He loves me. He came to his senses one day." One of their neighbors had offered to arrange a miai for Misao. She had been 18, almost an old maid, the woman said. Of course, within hearing distance of Aoshi, who had taken duties at the restaurant. Misao declined, but she brought the young man in anyway. The girls had giggled and sighed when he came in. Yamaguchi Miroku was handsome and rich. A brilliant catch in this new age. He was even polished by Western schooling. Why did the old woman want her to marry him? She never found out, though. Aoshi stopped the impromptu introductions by announcing that she had to follow Oniwabanshu traditions and could not marry outside a ninja clan. Of course, no one had said anything to contradict his pronouncement. No such rule had existed for them.... Later, Misao pointed out that lie to him. He merely shrugged and the matter was dropped. When their friendly neighborhood matchmaker decided to look for a shinobi bridegroom, Aoshi could not evade any longer. "Misao is not available. She already has been promised to someone. Please do not waste your efforts." Misao was not one to just sit back and let things happen. She went in for the attack. By the end, she got Aoshi to admit he didn't want her to get married to anyone. And that he loved her. Of course, it took some majorly timed questions and meetings alone, but she got her man. "And Aoshi-sama is not too old for me, Yahiko. Age... is only a number." "Aoshi and Kenshin are alike." "What does that mean?" she asked. She broke off and gasped as she felt a pain sharply in her abdomen. "Misao?" "Get Aoshi-sama, please...." Looking at Misao's pale face, Yahiko nodded and ran into the house to get help. ____________________________________ ardith@ucla.edu http://www.webslacker.com/ardith/ --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- GRAB THE GATOR! FREE SOFTWARE DOES ALL THE TYPING FOR YOU! Tired of filling out forms and remembering passwords? Gator fills in forms and passwords with just one click! Comes with $50 in free coupons! Click Here ------------------------------------------------------------------------