Disclaimer: None of the RK characters are mine. They belong to Nobuhiro
Watsuki. However, the original characters and plot are mine, so no stealing.

Notes: Firstly, much thanks to everyone who gave reviews and comments,
esp. those who have been keeping up with my irregular posting. It's good
to know that my writing is liked (!) but even more importantly, I need
and use reviews as a guideline to tell me whether I'm doing something
correctly or not i.e. does it make sense, am I overreaching by balancing
too many separate storylines etc. I'm glad it all makes sense and that I
have kept the characters, well, in character. :P (I have nightmares
about people telling me "Saitou would rather clean Kenshin's sakabatou
than do that" or that "Misao would sooner marry Yahiko!")

On a lighter note, when I thought about this chapter, for some reason I
kept picturing Kyosuke looking like Aya (older though) and Ittetsu as
Yohji. Oh hell, I based Ittetsu very loosely on Yohji. And obviously
that will have ramifications on the story. Oh well......

Re-edited: 31/3. Thanks Prudence-chan! Hope it makes more sense now. And
also to Karina Kineshi whom I need to thank for pointing out errors in
HWSM. A belated Arigatou. (forgive sessha!)


Chapter Six: Meeting(s) of Sorts


"You're Tae-san's husband?"

"Really Yahiko-chan, is it so shocking?" Tae looked mildly displeased at
their dazed responses.

"Considering that we've known you for like..." he counted off with his
fingers, "three years and not once have you mentioned him. Yeah," he
said bluntly.

Kyosuke chuckled and once more the two teenagers shifted their attention
to him. Smoothly he pulled off the black hat and shook his hair out.
Yahiko made a strangled sound and Tsubame looked like she was going to
fall over again.

"I knew this would happen," Tae giggled.

For a moment Yahiko had thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. By
a quirk of biological fate Sekihara Kyosuke bore a fair resemblance to
Kenshin, especially with the red hair and violet eyes. He was
considerably taller though and without a single mark on his face.

"Yes I know, I look like Battousai. My wife has already told me that.
Which brings me to the reason why I am in Tokyo."

"You mean it isn't to come see me?" Tae couldn't help but feel a little
hurt. But her husband's next words erased that feeling completely.

"Tae, you were the only thing on my mind while I was rushing to Tokyo. I
shouldn't be here precisely because I look like Himura but I had to come
and see that you were alright."

"Oh." She sniffled, touched, and he smiled with quiet understanding.

"Ahem." It was Yahiko. When he had Kyosuke's attention, he asked the
question that was burning on his lips. "What does Kenshin have to do
with this?" Already he was making a subconscious link between Kyosuke's
words and the morning's incident with Uramura. Anti-Meiji elements, the
chief had said...and Kenshin had been one of the main instruments in
enforcing the new era.

"That will be explained later. Suffice to say this, your friend is in
danger." Kyosuke grabbed Yahiko as the teenager darted past him. "You
cannot go to him now. It's too dangerous out there."

"I'm not afraid! I have to help him. Sanosuke isn't there either!"

The importance of that last statement failed to register on Kyosuke.
"So?" Tae and Tsubame looked equally blank. Yahiko almost gnawed his lip
in frustration. By unspoken agreement nobody present in Megumi's clinic
that day had ever mentioned Kenshin's secret to anyone else. "You don't
understand. Kenshin......"

"Battousai is a formidable warrior. He-"

"Isn't well. He hasn't been for the past three years," Yahiko said
softly so that only Kyosuke picked up his words. The man's eyes widened
a little but his grip on Yahiko's arm did not slacken. "You've got to
let me go."

"You'll stay here. If it's help he needs than he already has it,"
Kyosuke said firmly as he practically forced Yahiko away from the door.

"Anata, you mean Ittetsu-san and Tokio-san ...?" Tae asked.

"Yes, they are on their way there."

"What? You expect me to trust Kenshin's welfare to strangers?" Yahiko
interrupted, glaring at Kyosuke.

The man looked infuriatingly calm as he turned to Yahiko. "If it makes
you feel better, you are more familiar with Tokio-san than you imagine."

"I know her?"

"No. But you know her husband, if that helps."

"I could do with a name," Yahiko intoned sarcastically but the
unexpected twinkle in those purple eyes caught him offguard. "What?"

"I'll do better than that Yahiko-san. I'll give you two names. Publicly
he is known as Fujita Goro..."

Yahiko's jaw went slack with disbelief.

"......but I'm sure you are vastly more familiar with the name Saitou
Hajime."

There were a few seconds of silence before Yahiko croaked out, "You
mean....Saitou...is... married?"

Kyosuke turned to Tae with a smug grin. "I told you. They always ask the
same question."

.............................................


"Well, there certainly are no sick people today." Megumi checked outside
her door for the tenth time. The streets were empty and that itself was
a very odd event, given that her clinic was situated along one of the
busiest stretches of town. "Where'd everyone go?" she muttered, idly
re-arranging her medical supplies, making sure her needles and sutures
were spotlessly clean. When that was finished, still not one soul had
darkened her doorstep.

"Goodness, if I'd known it would be that empty I certainly would not
have bothered leaving the dojo." Alone in the clinic, Megumi fell back
into one of her little habits that she kept hidden from everyone else.
She enjoyed talking to herself. She wasn't narcissistic enough to love
the sound of her own voice. But it was a habit she had cultivated when
she was about ten, roughly around the time she had been orphaned.

"Well, it was a large house," she reminisced fondly. But always filled
with laughter and love, from her Tou-san's rich deep baritone to her
second nii-san's high-pitched squeak. She had never been alone, had
never encountered aching silences that could drive a child to tears.
Until the fire. Recoiling from that memory, she instinctively turned her
thoughts elsewhere, seeking solace from the horror.

Her eyes fell upon the chair that her patients sat on. "Sanosuke," she
whispered and smiled. Yes, he was one of her good memories, one of the
things that made her feel safe. "Although there had been a time when
just the thought of him drove you crazy," she reminded herself.
Unbidden, she turned her eyes to the doorway, as though she expected him
to turn up suddenly. She could almost see him there, huffing and slick
with perspiration from his run all the way from Shinshuu. Kami, he had
looked so...... "Don't even go there. You've been there far too much in
the past two days."

A sly smile turned her lips up. So she had. But unlike in the past, she
wasn't afraid to want him anymore. Before, when she had failed to
convince herself that she felt nothing for him, she turned to persuading
herself that it was impossible. They had nothing in common. She was
educated, descended from a rich family. Sanosuke was a brawling
ex-gangster who had nothing on his mind but fighting and gambling. She
had carried those thoughts in her head all the way to Aizu. But a letter
from Kaoru-san informing her of Sano's departure from Japan had
been...shattering. At first she had read it with something akin to
nonchalance. A few days later her nii-san, Hidetoshi, had found her
huddled on her bed, crying.

"You should have told him you loved him, Megumi-chan," her brother
berated as he comforted her. She had thrown him out of the room.

"Who is talking about love?" she shouted.

"No one. That's the problem," came the sage answer from the other side
of the shoji.

While moping in bed for a week, she finally found her answers. She loved
Sanosuke. She was sure he had felt some smidgen of attraction to her as
well. And who cared whether he was an ex-gangster? She was an ex-drug
maker wanted by the law. She would have been hung if not for Ken-san's
intervention. "But I can't find him," she complained mournfully to her
nii-san. They hired an investigator to try and track him down. Six
months later she gave up and relied on the letters that he sent once in
a blue moon to the Kamiya Dojo. But in true Sanosuke fashion, he failed
to write down the most important thing: a return address.

"But he's back. He's back and you finally have a chance." The last two
days had been wonderful. He was close enough to touch, she lay awake
each night thinking of how they were only two rooms apart. "Although,"
she grumbled, "How am I going to tell him? Somehow 'Sanosuke, I love you
and if you laugh I'll murder you. Want to get married?' doesn't seem
appropriate." She had her pride to consider; she couldn't just fall into
his arms like that.

Footsteps sounded outside, breaking her reverie. And then Sano entered
the room, his face expressionless. "What's wrong?" she asked at once.

"You're alright." There was a tinge of relief in his voice and she was
glad to hear it though it puzzled her.

"There hasn't been anyone here at all since I opened. Nande-" She
stopped when he took her by the wrist and led her out. "Sano, where are
we going?" He pushed her out the door and her eyes flashed. "Where are
we going?" Megumi dug in her heels and refused to budge an inch more.

"I'll explain on the way. We've got to get back to the dojo now." He
fairly vibrated with impatience. Something was definitely wrong.

"I have to lock up first though."

"There's no time!"

"And why not?" she retorted.

"ZANZA!!"

"That's why," he said dryly as a group of twenty men came charging down
the street. "I lost them just now but apparently, they've got better
noses than bloodhounds."

Megumi eyed them critically for a few moments before deciding that they
were not a match for Sano. "Not even by half," she patted him
confidently on the arm. "Hey!"

Sano winked. "I know I can handle them, thanks for the vote of
confidence. But you should stay behind me. Gotta protect you."

"Talk about patronizing macho men," she muttered but did as he said. The
group of gangsters came to a halt nearly a quarter length of the street
away.

"Zanza! I've been looking everywhere for you. What a coincidence!" The
huge man grinned unpleasantly before catching sight of Megumi. "And who
is that pretty woman? Is she yours Zanza?"

Sano's expression hardened and his fingers flexed before curling into a
fist inside his pocket. "Never mind her." He had no intention of drawing
any more attention to Megumi than could be helped. But she was so
beautiful that every man who could see her was openly leering. 'I'm
gonna enjoy taking these guys down,' he thought. "Who the hell are you
anyway?"

"I'm Fudozawa's cousin. Thanks to you he can't fight anymore," the man
growled. "I'm going to enjoy pounding you to pieces. But first, I'll
break your ribs. All six of them."

From behind Megumi hissed, "Who's Fudozawa?"

"Oh, you mean that loser. I remember him. I kicked his ass and two
hundred others at Shinshuu. Kicked his boss Tani's corrupted ass as
well." He wasn't boasting. Well, maybe just a little, but it answered
Megumi's question all the same. He wasn't about to take his eyes off
those men. They probably had a dozen dirty tricks up their sleeves.

'Two hundred?' Megumi squinted at Sano's back. She knew about Tani from
Kaoru's letter but Sano had not mentioned anything about Fudozawa. 'So
that's what he meant by fights.' The 'Aku' character emblazoned on the
pure white cloth stared back at her and she felt a rush of pride. He
wasn't just strong but ... 'Call me a sap but there's something noble
about him. He's like a diamond in the rough.'

Fudozawa's cousin roared and the men with him drew out their weapons.
The array was impressive. There were katanas, spears, tonfa and some
that Megumi had never seen before in her life. "I'm going to kill you
and then I'll take your girl!"

"Dream on," Megumi muttered. There was no way in hell that big ape was
going to even harm Sano.

"You'll do that," Sano replied quietly when the uproar had died down,
"over my dead body." Nobody and no one was going to hurt her while he
was around.

"We'll see. Go on men! Char-"

Sano punched the ground with both fists so fast that Megumi hardly even
saw him move. There was a huge roar and before her eyes the dust on the
streets whipped up as the earth erupted in a vertical path straight
towards the group. And then the world exploded. She would have been
knocked off her feet by a blast of wind that seemed to shear right
through her but strong lean arms caught her just in time. Then Sano was
shielding her, his body hunched over hers protectively.

She was so still in his arms that for a moment he imagined that she had
been hurt somehow. Around them the dust was settling and to his
satisfaction, the entire band of twenty had completely disappeared. When
she coughed, fierce relief surged in his chest and he chuckled. "How ya
feeling?"

"I'd be better if you'd let me breathe," came the muffled reply from
somewhere in the folds on his jacket. He had her wrapped so tightly
against him her face was practically buried in his shoulder. "Thank
you," she said, trying her best to gather her scattered wits. "What on
earth did you do?"

She sounded cool and collected once more. However, to Sano's infinite
delight, her hands were still twined in his jacket. "Come on." He hauled
her up against him and pulled her over to where the men had been a
minute ago. "What do you think, Fox? Not bad, if I do say so myself."

Not bad was one way of putting it. Megumi stared down into a gaping
chasm that held twenty unconscious men. "Kami, how did you do that? Was
that the Futae no Kiwami?"

"Yup. And then some." He had only done this once before in practice, the
effect had startled him somewhat. But combining his new skills with what
he had already learnt seemed a good idea at that time and obviously it
paid off in times like these. "Come on, we have to get to the dojo."

"Before anyone notices that you are responsible for the worst
destruction of public property since goodness knows when," she quipped.
Then she noticed that he was looking at her with a devilish glint in his
eye. "Whatever you are thinking of-ack! Put me down now!" she demanded
furiously as he scooped her up in his arms.

"Can't do that. We need to move faster," he replied breezily as he broke
into a run.

"Are you implying that I am slowing you down? And this is positively
indecent!"

"You really don't like this? I'll put you down if you want." There it
was again, that hidden tone of emotion that she had heard back in the
clinic. Megumi flushed, knowing that the decision was totally hers. As
would be the consequences.

Clearing her throat, she lowered her face and pretended to brush
something out of her eye. "You still haven't told me what's wrong."

Sano smiled and regarded her fondly. His Fox. Only this time round he
could see her vulnerabilities clearer. And Kenshin had dropped a hint or
two about how much she had missed him. "A lot of dangerous people are in
Tokyo and I don't want you left alone. It'll be safer if you are with
Kenshin and Jou-chan."

At least that's what he thought at that time. As Sano approached the
dojo his sharp ears picked up the unmistakable sound of fighting. And
then he smelt blood. Megumi's hands tightened on his jacket as she saw
the gate wide open.

"I'm coming with you," she said almost fiercely when he looked down at her.

"I have no intention of leaving you out on the street. It's too
dangerous. But please, stay close to me," he cautioned, putting her
down. They slipped onto the grounds, and Sano frowned at the sudden
silence. The fight was over. Kenshin must have taken care of them, Sano
thought in relief. True, Kenshin was injured but still, he was the
greatest swordsman in all Japan.

They were at one of the open corridors when a man came round the corner.

"It's you!" Sano burst out. "I saw you kill that man."

Laughing green eyes met his and the killer flicked a strand of
honey-brown hair away from his face. "We meet again. I had no idea you
stayed at this dojo."

Sano glared at the man before something cold washed over him. If this
man was alive and the sound of fighting had ceased...... Oh god ......
"Where is Kenshin?"

"Kenshin? You mean Battousai Himura," the man corrected maddeningly. And
then he slouched against a wooden post and the sword that he had been
concealing behind his back was revealed. It was stained with blood.
Fresh blood. Sano watched as a rivulet trickled down to the hilt.

"I'm going to kill you." And he meant every word of it. Behind Sanosuke,
Megumi took a few steps back.

Sano advanced on the assassin who never moved from his position but
watched the angry young man with alert eyes. And then his gaze flicked
to something behind Sano and he broke into a smile. Behind him, Sano
heard Megumi gasp and he cursed his carelessness. He had been swept away
by an anger so hot that he had forgotten about her. 'Kitsune......'

"And there is Battousai Himura," the stranger drawled.

"Kenshin!" They both screamed simultaneously and rushed over to him.

..........................................


His muscles were aching and he was sure that a tendon or two was ready
to snap. Yet for their sake he kept a smile on his face. Sano and Megumi
almost squeezed the life out of him and Kaoru hastened to his aid,
letting him take her arm for support.

"He's fine. We're both fine," she quickly replied to their queries.
Shooting a wary glance at the blond-haired man she knew only as Ittetsu,
Kaoru looked over her husband in concern. There was blood on his clothes
but it wasn't his.

Sano's eyes landed on their bloodstained garments. "What happened?"

"We were attacked by assassins. I recognised them as the Nakamura
Spiders. They used to be killers for the Shogunate. Now they are-they
were killers for hire." Kenshin winced as a spasm shot through him.
Mustering a deep breath, he forced his system to calm down, slowed the
frantic beating of his heart. Inch by inch he beat back the pain,
retreating into a calm portion of his mind, focusing.

Megumi took his pulse, her face a grim mask. "How long was the battle?"

Kaoru cut in, letting Kenshin catch his breath. "Less than ten minutes.
It was over very quickly." Funny, but when she and Kenshin had been
fighting for their lives, it had seemed like a small eternity. Back then
it had seemed like a blur, a sudden whirlwind. Now she recalled
everything in excruciating detail.

"Ken-san's not in danger although this fight will hurt him in the long
run." Megumi released Kenshin's hand. "By the way, who is that man over
there?"

"We only know his name is Ittetsu. He arrived with a woman...her name
wasn't mentioned." Kenshin's grip on Kaoru loosened and then he let go
of her, standing on his own. Her first instinct was to keep her arm
around him. Yet her first thought was to let him be. He had his pride
and as good a wife as she was, she had to let him stand alone at times.
It was precisely because she was such a good wife that she knew that.
Still, that didn't make it easier for her.

Soft voices conversing drew their attention and they saw a woman with
Ittetsu. He had a body slung over his shoulder. "What are they doing
with him?" Kaoru murmured and Kenshin's eyes narrowed slightly. Then
Ittetsu took off, shouldering his burden effortlessly.

"He's the only one alive. If I'm not mistaken, they deliberately did not
kill him."

'So that's where the blood came from.' That answered a lot of questions.
And that revealed something about the nature of the woman who was
approaching them. She was good-looking, no doubt about that. However,
those black eyes were unreadable. And Sano had learnt to be wary of
people who kept their eyes masked.

"Himura-san, Kaoru-san, now that you have been discovered, it is
imperative we leave at once."

Kaoru was staring at her with an expression that could only be described
as distrustful. Tokio didn't blame her. There had barely been sufficient
time to introduce Ittetsu and herself before the Nakamura Spiders had
attacked. Plus, Kaoru had seen them finishing off even those that
Battousai had knocked unconscious. According to Hajime, killing was an
absolute non-option for the Himuras and their friends.

"I promise you I mean no harm. My name is Tokio." Recognition flickered
in Kenshin's eyes. "I believe my husband mentioned me once before to
you, Himura-san."

"What are you talking about?" Sano broke in. Tokio ignored him.

"Did he send you here?" Kenshin asked softly. Tokio shook her head.

"I asked to come. I must admit, I was curious to meet the man who
changed my husband's mind." The shadow of a wry smile touched Kenshin's
lips before he turned to the rest who were obviously dying of frustrated
curiosity.

"Everyone, please meet Saitou Tokio."

It was almost uncanny, how they always had the same reaction. 'At least
Ittetsu isn't here to witness this.' Bringing herself back to the
subject at hand, she addressed the other three very stunned people.
"Come, we must hurry. No one must see us."

"Whoa, where are we going?" Sano asked.

"To the Akabeko."

"That's where Yahiko is."

Tokio turned to him with a smile that reminded Sano uncomfortably of
Saitou's. "I know that...... Sagara-san."




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Comments: THIS IS TOO LONG!! Am I too long-winded? *Sighs* More A/M next
chapt., swear. Although I love writing S/M. :)

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