Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. None of the characters from
Rurouni Kenshin belong to me. They belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki and I
acknowledge all his rights and the rights of the various companies
associated with RK.



Chapter Two:

"Next patient please," Megumi hollered, rinsing her hands in the brass
container of water. It was slightly dirty but she didn't have time to
change it. "Not unless I perform surgery," she sighed softly. Then an
old woman entered with a concerned grandson by her side. Megumi forgot
about her own weariness.

"Obaa-san, how do you feel?" She greeted at once, taking the sick
woman's hand to both steady her and check her pulse. It was thin and
thready, just like the other four people before her.

"She has a fever and suffers from vomiting. We tried looking after her
ourselves but it's been a week already ..." The teenager trailed off
miserably, watching Megumi as she tended his grandmother. "Will she be
alright, Takani-sensei? Is there an epidemic going around? Some of my
neighbours are sick as well."

"You're observant to notice that. However, it's not an epidemic. Where
do you live?" She asked almost abruptly.

"Uh ....in a village near the border of Aizu."

"Oh, no wonder you don't know." She smiled at the boy and his face
brightened. "Two weeks ago there was an accident at sea. Some oils and
chemicals were spilled into the ocean. Subsequently, the marine life,
especially the fish must have ingested these materials because all the
cities, towns and villages that imported fish from that area have had
numerous reports of sick people. Some of them have come to see me as
well. My brother, Hidetoshi, has gone on a trip to treat and warn the
affected provinces. We also notified the Aizu authorities and asked them
to put up notices, which they have. However, they seemed to have
neglected those villages at the outskirts."

"Don't worry Takani-sensei, I'll see that the villages are informed."

"Thank you ..." She hesitated and he supplied his name. "Shinta
...that's a good name," she mused. "I'll prescribe some medicine for
your obaa-san. See that you wash the food utensils and cook all the food
you eat thoroughly and of course, no more seafood." She grinned and the
boy smiled back, looking slightly love-struck.

He wasn't too bad looking, Megumi mused as she hurriedly walked to the
well at the courtyard. Emptying the water onto the ground, she drew up a
fresh bucket. Nice brown eyes, deep brown hair, tall and lanky
..."Sanosuke"...she would have slapped herself if she were not holding
the basin. "Sanosuke no baka," Megumi grumbled. No matter how hard she
tried to ignore him, the cocky gangster still held a special place in
her heart and mind. She had not loved him though, that much she was
clear about.

"I could have though," Megumi told herself as she set the basin down on
the cream cloth. And what would have happened if she had? Oh God, the
thought of being with Sano was both frightening and exciting. He was as
fiery and passionate as she was beneath her cool sly exterior. They
would have been so good together. But when she thought of more practical
matters ...Sano had gone off to see the world. She had left to start a
practice. Their respective goals alone bespoke a world of difference
that both of them had acknowledged silently. He was young, living for
excitement. She wanted stability, family. In time Sano would be able to
give the woman he loved all of that but ... "Not in time for me," Megumi
stared into the basin wistfully. Then a face appeared beside hers in the
water and Megumi screamed.

Instinctively she whirled, a surgical blade in hand. Fingers clamped
down on hers like a vice and the scalpel was easily wrested from her
grasp. By then she had had a good look at the man who had sneaked up on
her. "Shinomori Aoshi! Couldn't you say hello like any normal person?"

"I did. But I don't think you heard me. Even so, I apologise for
frightening you," he intoned coolly and Megumi bristled ungraciously.
Shinomori was being sincere; she thought sarcasm was not possible for
him although a certain Saitou Hajime practically revelled in it. But
there was something frustratingly icy about Aoshi, something almost
inhuman about the calm he cocooned himself in. Megumi knew about
personas and masks, she was a consummate actress. But sometimes a person
could go too far and wind up losing him or herself. She suspected that
much about Aoshi.

"What do you want?" She asked, just as coolly, arranging her needles and
suture threads, her vials and containers just so that she avoid looking
at him. In a strange way he still frightened her in spite of everything
that they had been through together with Ken-san and Kaoru-san. But
then, she had had Sano and Kenshin around to protect her. Aoshi ...Aoshi
had come with the nightmare of Karryuu. And yet he too had kept her safe
for a while, in his own way. Megumi touched the blade and remembered
when Aoshi had given one to her. Today he had taken one from her.

She was uncomfortable with him. But proud enough to maintain a
professional front and smooth enough to carry on a façade of normalcy.
So could he. "I need your help. I want you to travel with me to Kyoto."

"Impossible," she cut him off at once. "I have work here and I cannot
leave." Her back was to him and he could not see even her side profile
but the tiniest tone in her voice betrayed her relief. Was Megumi afraid
of him? Aoshi tasted bitterness. Of course she would be. He had been her
captor before and held her enslaved to a monster.

"It's not for myself that I ask this." He pressed on, never moving as he
watched her bustle through the room. "Okina and some of my Onmitsu are
ill. The house is under quarantine at the moment and none of the local
physicians have been able to help. That's why I came to you." It was
perhaps the most humbling speech he had ever made in his life.

"The Oniwabanshuu are sick?" It was on the tip of her tongue to ask
about Misao but Megumi remembered in time that Misao had left for
America indefinitely. And the cause for it was standing in front of her.
But now was not the time for such things. "What symptoms are they
displaying?"

"By all counts it looks like a disease of the lungs referred to as
consumption." Megumi blanched. "Okina is coughing up blood, Okon and
Omasu are no where as advanced but they are sick as well."

"And you didn't catch it?" She eyed him suspiciously. The last thing she
needed was a plague in Aizu compounding the seafood poisoning.

"That's nothing surprising. I spend a vast amount of my time in the
temple away from them."

"Even so I should check you. Sit down," she ordered, suddenly all doctor
and pure business. Aoshi obeyed her, out of respect for her position.
She took his pulse, peered into his eyes and prodded him in the chest
area firmly.

"No, that doesn't hurt," Aoshi answered for the third time. Megumi
looked satisfied and stood back. Then both their eyes alighted on her
fingertips. Blood. The faintest shade of it stained her fingers and the
coppery smell snaked its way into the air. Wordlessly Megumi reached for
him but Aoshi dodged her grasp.

"You ..." If it had been Sano she would have scolded the house down from
sheer habit. "You're an awfully foolish man not to warn me of those
wounds. And those are fresh wounds. I insist on looking at them. If
gentle prodding is enough to cause bleeding then you may need stitches."

"I've suffered worst. You needn't waste time with this. I need you to
come to Kyoto at once." But Aoshi sat still as she unbuttoned his black
tunic top and pushed it aside. Three shallow gashes marked his scarred
chest.

"I told you I cannot do that. The city is facing a slight crisis and my
brother is away. Without me around the clinic would have to close and
the people would suffer. Plus, the only other physician around is an
extremely old-fashioned man who still believes in quack cures and
remedies." While she was speaking, Megumi fetched some clean clothes,
antiseptic and bandages on a tray and sitting on a chair in front of
him, proceeded to clean his wounds. But the tray kept slipping from her
lap, plus the effort of having to bend over was extra hard on her
already tired frame. So she discarded the chair and knelt in front of him.

Aoshi was a little taken aback but Megumi didn't notice his surprise.
She was intensely focused on his wounds. "Shallow but still, you run the
risk of infection by not getting them treated." Dousing the wounds in
antiseptic, she reached for her bandages. "Who attacked you on your way
here?"

"I'm not sure."

"Don't really want to talk about it huh?" Megumi lifted a finely shaped
brow at him, a momentary twinkle in her eyes before she got serious.
"It's none of my business, whatever you Onmitsu do but you should be
careful if such highly-skilled opponents are after you."

"I wasn't concentrating," he said shortly. "And those same opponents
could well go to the Aoiya while I'm gone." Megumi gave him a dark look.
She knew he was blackmailing her.

"I told you I have work here. I can prescribe some treatments but your
best bet would be to seek a foreign doctor's help. Or Hidetoshi's, my
onii-chan's. But he isn't around at the moment."

Fastening the last bandage, Megumi stood up and walked to the window.
"It really is the best advice I have for you Aoshi. Please don't think
I'm being spiteful. I would never disdain my medical duties with such
petty emotions. But--" Megumi had been about to speak about the time
when Ken-san had given her a new reason for living when a bright glint
outside the window caught her eye. It came from the huge tree just
outside the courtyard. "Nani, what it that?"

Aoshi was already on his feet but Megumi craned her neck further out.
Then a cry burst from her lips and she jerked back as a shining star
whistled through the window, drawing a crimson line across her neck.
Aoshi leapt at Megumi and they went down in a tumble of arms and legs.
But no more flying weapons came.

Megumi's hair blinded her vision but she felt warm fingers touching her
neck. Aoshi was checking her for injuries. The wound stung but she was
sure that it was a surface cut. "Shuriken," she thought, dazed. Then
Aoshi's heavy weight lifted off her and he leapt out through the window,
kodachi already unsheathed and ready in his hands.

A few minutes later he returned. "It looks like whoever tried to kill me
has followed me here." His gaze rested on Megumi and this time there was
a slight flicker of emotion inside. "For some reason they are trying to
kill you as well."

Megumi shivered. "Why?"

"We'll find out soon enough. You're coming with me to Kyoto, no
arguments." This time, Megumi obeyed him. Things had evolved rapidly now
and she was aware of an unwelcome sensation, the sensation of being a
pawn in a dangerous game with shadowy masterminds beyond her reach.

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