Alatáriël: Hi all! Gets various fruit stuffs thrown at her ACK! NO! Not the pineapples! Minna-san, I can explain! I know you all are mad at me for not spending my time on Chichiri-san, but.. but... Can you ignore THIS face?!

Soujiro: Smiles innocently, not exactly sure why he's here

Fans:.....

Alatáriël: Oh! Come on! Have some faith in your good friend here, ok?... This story might end up a disaster like the Soujiro one! So just be good little readers and review, ne?

Soujiro: By the way, Minna-san, Alatáriël-san has never, and will never own me... despite her numerous attempts with pits filled with pudding I have yet to be caught! Laughs evilly

Alatáriël: OO Sou-kun?.... coughs ANYWAY, instead of keeping him as my personal love-bunny I have hired him on as an actor in my little studio where he'll be paying my way threw college.

Soujiro: Nani? THAT wasn't in the contract!

Alatáriël: Grins Read the fine print, love.

Runs off stage

Of Ladybugs and Tea leaves

Chapter one: The beginning of it all

The Day Before

The morning had started exactly as it had everyday (minus days when he woke up in a rain storm) as it had since he left Shishio's care. It had been exactly one year, two months, twenty-one days, thirteen minutes, and ten seconds since that faithful battle with Kenshin Himura.

Soujiro was unaware of this, however, being a full-fledged wanderer, he could barely keep track of what day it was! Forget time, boil it alive, and pickle it with eggs for all he cared. Right now there were more pressing matters at hand... like finding a place to sleep during the oncoming storm... fun, ne?

The ever smiling Tenken didn't have a smile on his face at the moment. The cold soon-to-be fall rains poured down from the heavens, soaking our poor little wanderer. The strong wind wasn't much help neither, nor was the fact the sky was getting darker and darker by the minute.

"Come on, you've been threw much worse weather than this!", Soujiro told his body as his sandal slipped on the now muddy road. 'There has to be a town around here! There just has to be...', the nineteen year old thought to himself, trying to motivate his body forward.

Tomi Ito, a potter extrodinare, was currently walking into town. Two strands of hair that made up his bangs hung in his face as he tried to balance his five new master pieces on both his arms. His fourteen year old daughter, Kuri, trotted along behind him with two additional works in her hands as she tried to keep up with her father's longer strides.

Neither one of them knew what awaited them on the next bend in the road. A humongous landslide sat right in their path. It looked as if Earth herself spat a huge loogie right in their way. Tomi sighed, "Well, it this isn't just the darnedest l-." It was then that he noticed something quite abnormal.

A foot, shoeless, was poking out of the large mass. As it seemed the Earth's loogie had been aimed for someone, and had hit it's target dead on. "Oh dear!", Kuri gasped as she and he father quickly sat down their pottery and set to helping the person who's foot stuck out if the landmass.

A few minutes (and two dirty travelers later) the person, whom had turned out to be a young man, was safely extracted from the mass. As would be expected, he was unconscious. They were glad to discover, however, that he was alive.

"That's strange", said Tomi as he wiped some sweat from his brow. "He's smiling", Kuri commented. Indeed it was so. The scrawny teenager did have a smile in his face, however it was twitching rapidly as if he was subconsciously fighting with his own face. It would have been quite a humorous sight, if only Tomi and Kuri weren't worried that the lack of oxygen in the mound of dirt had given the boy brain damage.

"Kuri, take as many pots you can carry and go back to the house. Tell your mother to get a bed ready, and heat up a bath."

Alatáriël: Sorry it's so short, but I'm "testing the waters" as it were... ;; I do really hope you all

like my story. I'm working hard to get Soujiro in character, so inform me as to how I'm doing, ok?

Soujiro:... You tried to kill me in a land slide?....

Alatáriël: No, Sou-cha--- What are you doing with that katana?!

Soujiro: Tenken smile

Alatáriël: EEK! HAVE MERCY ON SESSHA! runs away

(Actually in reality I see Soujiro Seta as being a very kind and polite individual... whom I would like to see paired up with a certain Weasel... Gets tackled by Aoishi x Misao fans AHHH! HAVE MERCY ON SESSHA!)

Ps. Sorry if the markings didn't show up to seperate actions and words. Forgive this unworthy one. ;;

Alatáriël