True Gifts Lemony Fresh Extra

Chapter 6



Misao was aghast at his cowardly retreat and sprang to her feet. Her words were quick and angry, “Not again, we’re going to get this out in the open for once and for all, before I have to go back to Kyoto and think about what you’ve done to me every night of my life!!!” The tears had started to sting the back of her eyes again almost instantly.

Misao wondered at how their conversation had gone from almost fun and teasing to serious and tense so quickly. At last, she had said what had needed to be said for the past 6 weeks. She needed a reason for his actions and she was finally going to get one.



Aoshi had frozen. He never wanted to talk about the fires that had scorched him that night, the pain of being so close to her and never being able to have her, his heart was not ready to come to terms with the loss just yet. Not wanting to continue he forced himself to go on, he owed it to her. Trying to be as truthful as possible, he took a deep breath and let the words come.

“Misao......Sumimasen. I never should have touched you. You begged me to.” Her gasp was audible. “Takehashi drugged you. I brought you home. I watched you writhe in agony for over an hour begging me to make it go away. I couldn’t say no…I couldn’t deny you, Misao.”



“How?! How could what you did fix any agony?! I don’t believe you!” Aoshi’s shoulders slumped as he sighed. He knew he wasn’t going to win this conversation without an argument. The last thing he wanted to give was an explanation. He sighed as he contemplated his words and very deliberately stated his reasons.



“Misao, the drug you were given was an aphrodisiac which makes you need physical contact. The only thing that makes it better is pleasure, the type only a lover could give. These types of drugs make it necessary for one to ease their sexual tension in order to feel better. All I did was ease your tension, your virtue is intact. I swear that it was the worst wrong I’ve ever done in my life…” Aoshi’s mind continued the sentence  as he turned to face her, ‘But nothing has ever felt so right…’

“You asked me to Misao. And I gave you what you wanted.” The pain of finally getting the truth out in the open seared Aoshi. All he wanted to do was run from her accusing eyes. He had been dreading this moment since the morning after he lost himself in her. It was almost too much for him to have to continue the journey home in her presence.

‘I shouldn't have come. What could I have been thinking to go to Tokyo?’ Aoshi turned around and shoved the linens from lunch into his bag and hefted it over his shoulder. Refusing to glance at Misao he spoke quietly to the forest before him. “Gomen, we have to go.”



A ragged breath was drawn behind him as Misao collected herself. He was sure there were tears staining her cheeks. The leaves rustled as she rose to her feet, crunching under toe as she turned to grab her bag. When she turned around to look at his back he was gone, already traveling down the path without her. Misao wiped the few tears left on her chin and struggled to catch up with him before he disappeared into the wilderness.



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That night when they finally stopped at an inn a half-day’s walk outside of Kyoto, Misao was tired to her very bones. All of the stress of the day had taken its toll on her frazzled nerves once again. When she ultimately made it to her futon she fell into a deep slumber, oblivious to the world outside the doors to her room. Aoshi tried to sleep but every time he closed his eyes her tearstained face was before him.

He’d finally been able to tell her the truth, but in doing so it seemed she had become even more unattainable to him. His mind told him that the distance was for the best but a small part inside of him balked at the thought. ‘Will I ever be free of her?’ Aoshi’s mind continued to wander into the early hours of morning before a fitful sleep overtook him.



As dawn broke the next morning Misao awoke with a start, she’d been dreaming of Aoshi again only the dreams were much more vivid than all the others she’d had before. She could see him clearly as his lips fluttered over her skin. She’d even felt the heat from his body as he had hovered over her, working magic with his mouth and hands.

The sweat drenching her body was proof that she hadn’t been unaffected by the dream. Her body ached for something she could not name, she could almost believe that the ache was the one Aoshi had taken great pains to cure her from only to release her to its torment in her sleep.



Getting to her feet, she wrapped her yukata aground her tightly and padded lightly out of the inn into the fog-shrouded courtyard. The cool air tingled against her skin and in the semi-light of early morning the birds were just beginning to rustle the trees. Misao walked forward down the steps of the inner walkway towards the enclosed yard of the inn hoping to find a peaceful place to meditate until the sun broke through the haze. The path was lined with large flat stones and ferns dotted the ground at either side of her feet. She could hear a fountain gurgling nearby and imagined a small koi pond catching the water as it fell. A water clock made a melodic, hollow thud against a rock in the distance.



As she approached the back fence of the property a form became clear in the shroud of fog. Aoshi was already awake. He sat upon a mat facing the rising sun in deep meditation. His soft words came as a bit of a start to her. “Ohayo, Misao. Did you sleep well?” He hadn’t even opened his eyes as he’d asked her.



“Iie, I was dreaming.” Misao thought for a moment and took a deep breath before continuing, “I was dreaming of you.” Aoshi’s eyes snapped open in the half light and smoldered on her like a boiling spring in the dusky-gray of morning. Misao met his gaze with a cool resolve.

There would be no more lies, no more secrets. As she lay in bed this morn she knew he had told her the truth. She also knew that she could not bare a life where she never kissed him again. It was time, no, far past time that Aoshi took her for his wife. With that decision made, Misao had decided to do anything in her power to make him hers. She would use her body to win his heart.



Her hand shook as she held the fabric gathered in her fist. ‘Why am I so unsure of myself? He’s seen it all before, but does he want to see it again?’ She let her yukata slip a fraction from her shoulders. Aoshi looked paralyzed, like a rabbit caught out in the open. She could see the rise and fall of his chest and as the yukata slipped further his breathing became harder. In a flash Aoshi was on his feet striding towards her. Just as quickly she was roughly shoved aside as he passed her, heading back to the sanctuary of the inn.