Disclaimers: Rurouni Kenshin is all mine. If you want to write a RK fiction, please send me 100,000 dollars. In cash. HUEHUEHUEHUEHUE KIDDING!!!!!!! It's gonna be mine someday, but by now it's Watsuki's. R+R please!!!
Post Scriptum: I recommend reading 'An Odd Day' before 'Finally Happy'.

Once upon a time, four brave warriors defied a fire arm to protect the life of their leader. These honourable men gave away their lives in accomplishment of their duty: to follow and protect the okashira, come what may.

However, their okashira didn't enjoy very much seeing his men being shot to death, and so he became a little crazy about it. Then, he decided he had to kill that other man, Himura Battousai, the strongest monarchist.

No, no, Himura haven't killed the other four, he even tried to help at some point, and he was the one to defeat the freak with the gun, but anyway, on with the story. In the past, during the war, this group had never been able to show how powerful they were, and the okashira, whose name was Aoshi, put on his mind that defeating the strongest monarchist would make him the strongest after all, and he would have something to offer to his fellas' graves.

As he was a bit crazy, he joined forces for a while with another freak guy who wanted to rule Japan. And he eventually beat the hell up on poor ol' Okina, who had once been a member of the group quoted before (which I'm going to call Oniwabanshuu from now on). And as he was stroking his last blow, she appeared in the doorway.

16-year-old Makimachi Misao, the former Oniwabanshuu's leader's granddaughter, the girl Aoshi'd helped to raise, the girl he'd left at Okina's care in Kyoto when he and the other four members went to Tokyo ten years before, the young woman who's been awaiting for his return since then, stared astonished from the doorway as her beloved Lord Aoshi left the one who she most cared for, her "Gramps", to his fate. Few words were exchanged then, but they were in no mood to talk.

Anyway, Okina survived, Aoshi fought Himura (again, because they'd already fought when they first met), and Himura defeated him again and put some sense into his mind, convincing him to go back to the Aoiya (the inn where Misao, Okina and the remaining Oniwabanshuu lived) and live in peace.

Click! He got the message. The freak guy who wanted to rule the world was defeated and went to Hell, of course. Aoshi went back to his, let's say, "family". But he was still cold as ice. He didn't talk much to anyone in the inn and spent most of his time at a temple nearby meditating. But somewhere deep inside he had feelings.

Later, in Tokyo, the once-enemy-now-colleague Kenshin Himura was in trouble, and his girlfr-- uh-- landlady asked for the Oniwabanshuu's help. Aoshi and Misao went straight to their dojo, but they arrived there a bit late. The chaotic events that happened while they were on the way there made our ninja girl really sad. It seems that her tears got to Aoshi, who found out there was still hope for their friends, and ended up helping Himura and the others in the battlefield. Things had a happy ending, Himura defeated his brother-in-law (I won't go any further. Read the manga, silly) and the main couple of our tale went back to Kyoto.

Oh, sorry? No, it's not over yet! Time passed and Aoshi didn't change much, and that was pissing Misao up. Remember the guys who had died in the beginning of the story? Well, two years had passed since their death. Aoshi was cooler than ever, and decided to stay all day praying at the temple. Misao went there with him and yelled at him for being so quiet, and he didn't quite answer her. So, she decided it was time to make a further step. She took her clothes off, they made love, and Aoshi finally accepted the truth: he loved her.

And so, one year later...

"I brought you some tea."

"Thank you," he said shortly, breaking his meditation.

She put the tea tray between her and her fiancé and poured some tea for both of them. They drank silently for a couple of minutes.

"Did you know the news? Okon's moving to Hiko Seijuurou's hut."

"What, no wedding?"

"Yeah, I was a bit startled too but, thinking about it now, I can't imagine Himura's master getting married. He would leave not even a drop of saké to the guests! Besides, he isn't from another onmitsu family, so we wouldn't be able to have a proper ceremony, isn't it."

"... well, she is a grown woman. She knows what she's doing."

"I hope so!" She giggled a bit. "I mean, at least it seems that he cares for her... You should have seen Omasu's face! 'You mean... Hiko-sama and you... oh my!' She was quite jealous at first, but now she's cheering up with Shiro's help... you know what I mean. And now all Okina does is to complain. With Okon going to Hiko's, Shiro flirting with Omasu, Kuro seeing that girl from Shirobeko and our wedding coming soon, he says we are abandoning him! I guess he's just jealous because his little girls won't be around him anymore. That's Gramps, after all." she said, making him chuckle. "Aoshi-anata?"

"Yes?"

"Smile for me."

He smirked mischievously while drinking his tea, and raised an eyebrow.

"Make me, koishii."

She went next to him, kneeling by his side, and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Naughty boy!"

He opened his eyes to look at her face, and her smile vanished when she remembered the date.

"Misao, today is not an ordinary day."

"I know." A small silence. "It's their death's third anniversary." A few more seconds of silence. "You're sad, aren't you?"

"... Actually... no... I'm not sad. Because..." he interrupted what he was saying to kiss her passionately. "... something else happened in this same day, one year ago. I discovered love." He smiled lightly. His smile was one of the many things she was the only one allowed to see.

She sat on his lap, her back resting against his chest, their legs flexed, laying to each side of their bodies in a meditating position. He wrapped his arms delicately around her slender body, her left hand over his own while she raised her right arm to caress his nape. They remained still for a while, until she broke the silence.

"Let's pray together."

"... and what are you going to pray for?..." he asked, a tiny bit of curiosity showing on his voice.

She thought for a few seconds, then continued. "For lots of things... for their souls... for a happy marriage..." She turned her head to face him, a bright smile illuminating her face. "... and... for six healthy, noisy, hyperactive children."

He chuckled. "Six, huh?"

"Don't you like the idea? Six chibi-Aoshis and chibi-Misaos running and screaming and making a wonderful, cheerful mess!" And then her tone went calm, almost serious, but still happy. "And there's already one on the way."

Aoshi blinked once, then twice, as if he haven't understood the message. A father? He? One would never believe this man was the same who had became Okashira of the Oniwabanshuu at fifteen, a cold, anti-social, distant man. Now he was just an ordinary, dumfounded 'soon-to-be' first-time daddy.

"You... you mean it? Are you sure?!?"

"Utterly sure. Shinomori Aoshi, you are going to be a father. In about nine months."

How many times have he been surprised during his twenty-nine years of life? Very few. A couple of times during his childhood, perhaps once or twice when he was a teenager, before he had become the okashira. After that, never, until he'd met Kenshin and the others, and when he reunited with the Kyoto Oniwabanshuu and had seen Misao, his Misao, again after ten years. Once more when she had made him face his feelings for her. That'd happened one year ago. And now above all. He was going to be a father. He have been trained all these years to be prepared for anything, but he wasn't certain if he was prepared for this... was he going to be a good father? Would he know how to raise this child?

All of a sudden, an image formed in the back of his mind...

He was sitting in the Aoiya's backyard and looked no more than thirteen. His face looked sullen; he was probably thinking about the future of Japan, as well as his own. That morning he'd accidentally heard a brief conversation between Okina and Makimachi-sama, Misao's grandfather, the okashira then. They had been talking about the Oniwabanshuu, and had cogitated the possibility of making him okashira in a near future, as Misao's father, Takeo Makimachi, had died when battling against the Ishin Shishi. It seems that Okina turned it down when Makimachi-sama offered the rank to him. He'd justified himself saying the group needed a young leader, and Aoshi's name had been mentioned. If the elder members considered him capable, then he was capable and that was a fact. He knew his skills were incredible, highly above the average for a young teenager, even above grown men's capacity. He was an excellent spy, a skilled swordsman and had been a respectable leader in his first missions. And yet, he was doubtful about what would happen if he became the okashira.

While he was lost in his thoughts, small footsteps came from inside the house, then a toddling 3-year-old Misao called his name.

"Aoshi-nii! Aoshi-nii!!!"

"Yes, Misao-chan?"

"Misao-chan wanna go see the circus but Hannya-nii can't take Misao-chan to the circus! But Aoshi-nii can take Misao-chan to the circus, neh, Aoshi-nii?!?"

He listened to the cute little girl as she repeated the word 'circus' at least ten times on a single sentence, begging him to go with her, stressing all the advantages of doing so, things like seeing the magicians and the clowns and eating sweets and everything a 3-year-old would dream of. But he wasn't three years old; he knew the world wasn't a circus and he knew it would be inadvisable to go out in broad daylight. The Oniwabanshuu have always had enemies; if he was going out alone, he'd pass unnoticed easily, and even if he was spotted, he would defend himself just as easy. But Misao was going to be with him, and she could be harmed if they got into a fight.

"Sorry, Misao-chan. It's very dangerous to go out these days, and I have a lot of work to do. Maybe another day."

"But..." She said, frowning, and began to sob. "But Aoshi-nii said he was going to take Misao-chan to the circus when it arrived! The circus is going to go away and Misao-chan won't see it! Pleeeease!!!"

A couple of tears began to flow from her bright blue eyes, running over her round, pinky little cheeks, while she began to whimper. She knew he hated to see her crying, and he knew she was doing it on purpose, but even so he didn't want to see her shedding any tear. Well, she wasn't going to give up, so he'd have to bargain with the little monkey.

"Okay, then. But listen, we can't stay for too long, right? If you are a good girl, I'll buy you some suama."

"Hai!!! We are going to the circus!! We are going to the circus!!" She ran back to the house, singing cheerfully. He just stared, the corners of his lips slightly turned up.

"Aoshi? Daijoubu?"

Awakening from his daydream, he looked at Misao. The little girl he had once seen growing up was now a woman, his woman, and would give him a child soon. He hugged her carefully, as if she was made of china.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear. "I love you even more now."

And now he was sure. He had nothing to fear. Maybe he wouldn't be the perfect father, but he would give his best to it. He'd made mistakes before, but he'd learnt with them and they weren't going to happen anymore. Misao had taught him so much, everything was going to be right from now on. With his new family, he would finally be happy. And, from this time on, ever after.

Author's Notes: Although it's too small to split in two chapters, you might have noticed this fiction has two different parts. The first part, the "fairy tale" one, has no dialogues, and it shows the facts as if they'd happened in a very distant past. Like a tale, really. And the second part is intersected by some dialogue lines and narrates the events as if they had just happened. In the very end, we go back to the fairy tale style with the "happy ever after" ending, closing the circle. Not bad, huh. My Lit teacher would be proud of me, as well as the English teacher ^_^
I tried to make them not to look too OOC, though there had to be some differences 'cause, hey, they've been together on a romantic relationship for a year. Besides, Misao is getting older (19, to be precise), so she's obviously more mature. And Aoshi-sama just found out he'll be a father, what did you expect him to do? To say "fine" and sip his tea? C'mon, if he's going to marry Misao he must've caught at least a bit of her cheerfulness -_-0
And I promise you guys: someday I'll write a Okon+Hiko fic. I don't know why, but I think Hiko looks better with Okon than with Omasu, and the latter looks cute with poor, neglected Shiro (who, in my humble opinion, is very handsome). And as I didn't know what to do with Kuro, I put him with Sae, Tae's twin sister. I can even picture Okina saying "Those youngsters! I knew it would happen sooner or later! Go, go, leave this poor, sick old man here alone! I don't need your pity!" ^_^0
I created the name for Misao's father (Takeo). According to The Japanese-English Dictionary Server, it means:
take = "strong and brave"
o = "husband, man"
I guess Misao's father was a strong and brave man; at least he is in my fan fiction ^_^ .
Suama is a Japanese sweet made of rice and sugar. I've never tried it, but I needed the name of a Japanese sweet, so, I glanced through my Card Captor Sakura mangas and found out this one (it's Yamazaki's favourite food ^_^).
Any comments, ideas or rotten eggs/tomatoes, please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].

Love, Prudence-chan