NOTES:
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me. Standard disclaimers apply.
" " for thoughts
- for dialogues
*** *** for flashback
IT MUST HAVE BEEN FATE
Chapter 1
Megumi lay down on the bed and watched the empty space beside her. She caressed the sheets with the back of her hand and sighed. It was the first night that she was going to sleep alone since her marriage with Sano some months ago. That night was the anniversary of captain Sagara's death and the destruction of the Sekihoutai, a sacred night for him. Every year he went out with Katsu and drank while they remembered their time in the army and their beloved captain, the man who had been like a father to them, and she didn't want to mess with that custom. She loved him as he was, and knew the meaning of those little rituals. But it didn't mean that she didn't miss him. Megumi turned and lay on her stomach and, folding her arms, she rested her chin on them. In the dining room the clock struck ten.
"Only ten? I thought it would be at least eleven." She sighed. "Better go to bed and try to sleep."
Megumi pushed aside the sheets, blew the candle out and slipped into bed. She closed her eyes but the feeling of loneliness became stronger. Since the first night they had slept close to each other, she had been accustomed to fall asleep surrounded by his warmth and his scent. She braced herself and curled up, trying to soothe her husband's absence but it was impossible. The feeling of his arms around her waist, his whispered words, his lips on hers, kissing her goodnight couldn't be replaced. She sighed again.
"I'd never thought it would be so difficult to be apart from him."
Her mind began filling up with memories of their married life. Megumi never thought she could be so happy. A soft smile appeared on her mouth when she remembered the kiss they shared before he left.
***
-Be careful. I don't want to play doctor with your hand again.
Sano had smiled at her and rested his forehead against hers.
-Don't forget I love you.
The same words he said every time one of them left the house. Then, another kiss and he was gone.
-I promise to bring him back in one piece!
Megumi smiled at Katsu and then leaning on the door, watched them walking away towards the suburbs, where their favourite tavern was.
***
Megumi turned and faced the door that overlooked the garden. It was a full moon and the light filtered through the paper of the panel, bathing the room in a soft silvery glow. Her thoughts went to Sagara Souzo. Sanosuke had spoken about him many times, and it was easy to imagine how he was physically, and his character too, but she would have liked to know him. She sighed. What would Sano be doing at that moment? She pictured him in her mind, laughing, talking to Katsu about some memory of their childhood. Megumi smiled softly and closed her eyes.
"Wherever you are, captain, please watch over him."
Sanosuke sat under a cherry tree and left the sake jar that hanged from his shoulder next to him. It was almost midnight and the silence filled the streets. He stared at the dark waters of the river as the soft breeze played with his hair and brought him the smell of the lotus flowers that grew in the water.
-Sorry for not thinking on you too much now, captain, I've got other things on my mind. Now I have a wife, a house, a real house, not like the room where I lived before, and a job. It's funny how a man can change so much for a woman... Did I do the right thing, giving up my past life and moving on into a new one?
In a moment the wind changed its direction and stopped suddenly. Time seemed to stop too, and a misty image appeared beside him, sat on the grass. Sano smiled. He was now accustomed to Sagara Souzo's sudden apparitions. Since the first time in Shimosuwa, on his way to Kyoto, he had seen him more times.
-Captain...
-What are you doing here, Sano?
Sano smiled sadly.
-Remembering you, as always on this night.
-Where's Katsu?
-He went home with one of the girls of the tavern.
-And you?
-I preferred to stay here.
-But there is somebody waiting for you at home, Sano.
An image of Megumi flashed in his mind and he smiled.
-Yeah... but she knows, and she understands...
-I'm very glad that you've finally found the right woman and settled down. I've seen you two together and I have to say that you make a lovely couple.
Sanosuke's smile broaden. His captain had answered his question without a direct answer, as always he did before.
-She's such a wonderful woman. Beautiful, intelligent, strong, loving... I'd never thought a woman like her could exist, and I'd never dreamt that she could be mine some day... - he sighed -. If you were alive, you could've known her...
-If I were alive, you'd never met her...
Sano stared at Sagara Souzo incredulously.
-Never... met... her...?
Souzo took the jar that lay between them and took a gulp from it. Sano looked at him dumbfounded.
-It's good sake.
-Captain... I thought the dead couldn't drink...
Sagara winked at him and smiled.
-We have our little secrets...
-What did you mean when you said that I'd never met Megumi if you...?
-Sano, why did you become Zanza?
Sanosuke looked at the grass.
-Because I lost you, I wanted to be strong... so that I'd never have to mourn for the loss of another loved one because by that time, I would be strong enough to protect that person. Then, I realized that I could forget while I fought and it became a way of escaping from everything.
-So, you became Zanza, you came to Tokyo and then, you met Kenshin...
-...and Megumi.
-You met her because you lost me.
Sano stared at his captain. For him, it made no sense to be happy because of the loss of a loved one.
-That's not true. We could meet in another way, in other circumstances...
Souzo cut on him.
-Do you want to know what would happen if I would survive, or if the Sekihoutai wouldn't be destroyed?
He nodded. His captain took his hand and in a moment, their surroundings changed.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me. Standard disclaimers apply.
" " for thoughts
- for dialogues
*** *** for flashback
IT MUST HAVE BEEN FATE
Chapter 1
Megumi lay down on the bed and watched the empty space beside her. She caressed the sheets with the back of her hand and sighed. It was the first night that she was going to sleep alone since her marriage with Sano some months ago. That night was the anniversary of captain Sagara's death and the destruction of the Sekihoutai, a sacred night for him. Every year he went out with Katsu and drank while they remembered their time in the army and their beloved captain, the man who had been like a father to them, and she didn't want to mess with that custom. She loved him as he was, and knew the meaning of those little rituals. But it didn't mean that she didn't miss him. Megumi turned and lay on her stomach and, folding her arms, she rested her chin on them. In the dining room the clock struck ten.
"Only ten? I thought it would be at least eleven." She sighed. "Better go to bed and try to sleep."
Megumi pushed aside the sheets, blew the candle out and slipped into bed. She closed her eyes but the feeling of loneliness became stronger. Since the first night they had slept close to each other, she had been accustomed to fall asleep surrounded by his warmth and his scent. She braced herself and curled up, trying to soothe her husband's absence but it was impossible. The feeling of his arms around her waist, his whispered words, his lips on hers, kissing her goodnight couldn't be replaced. She sighed again.
"I'd never thought it would be so difficult to be apart from him."
Her mind began filling up with memories of their married life. Megumi never thought she could be so happy. A soft smile appeared on her mouth when she remembered the kiss they shared before he left.
***
-Be careful. I don't want to play doctor with your hand again.
Sano had smiled at her and rested his forehead against hers.
-Don't forget I love you.
The same words he said every time one of them left the house. Then, another kiss and he was gone.
-I promise to bring him back in one piece!
Megumi smiled at Katsu and then leaning on the door, watched them walking away towards the suburbs, where their favourite tavern was.
***
Megumi turned and faced the door that overlooked the garden. It was a full moon and the light filtered through the paper of the panel, bathing the room in a soft silvery glow. Her thoughts went to Sagara Souzo. Sanosuke had spoken about him many times, and it was easy to imagine how he was physically, and his character too, but she would have liked to know him. She sighed. What would Sano be doing at that moment? She pictured him in her mind, laughing, talking to Katsu about some memory of their childhood. Megumi smiled softly and closed her eyes.
"Wherever you are, captain, please watch over him."
Sanosuke sat under a cherry tree and left the sake jar that hanged from his shoulder next to him. It was almost midnight and the silence filled the streets. He stared at the dark waters of the river as the soft breeze played with his hair and brought him the smell of the lotus flowers that grew in the water.
-Sorry for not thinking on you too much now, captain, I've got other things on my mind. Now I have a wife, a house, a real house, not like the room where I lived before, and a job. It's funny how a man can change so much for a woman... Did I do the right thing, giving up my past life and moving on into a new one?
In a moment the wind changed its direction and stopped suddenly. Time seemed to stop too, and a misty image appeared beside him, sat on the grass. Sano smiled. He was now accustomed to Sagara Souzo's sudden apparitions. Since the first time in Shimosuwa, on his way to Kyoto, he had seen him more times.
-Captain...
-What are you doing here, Sano?
Sano smiled sadly.
-Remembering you, as always on this night.
-Where's Katsu?
-He went home with one of the girls of the tavern.
-And you?
-I preferred to stay here.
-But there is somebody waiting for you at home, Sano.
An image of Megumi flashed in his mind and he smiled.
-Yeah... but she knows, and she understands...
-I'm very glad that you've finally found the right woman and settled down. I've seen you two together and I have to say that you make a lovely couple.
Sanosuke's smile broaden. His captain had answered his question without a direct answer, as always he did before.
-She's such a wonderful woman. Beautiful, intelligent, strong, loving... I'd never thought a woman like her could exist, and I'd never dreamt that she could be mine some day... - he sighed -. If you were alive, you could've known her...
-If I were alive, you'd never met her...
Sano stared at Sagara Souzo incredulously.
-Never... met... her...?
Souzo took the jar that lay between them and took a gulp from it. Sano looked at him dumbfounded.
-It's good sake.
-Captain... I thought the dead couldn't drink...
Sagara winked at him and smiled.
-We have our little secrets...
-What did you mean when you said that I'd never met Megumi if you...?
-Sano, why did you become Zanza?
Sanosuke looked at the grass.
-Because I lost you, I wanted to be strong... so that I'd never have to mourn for the loss of another loved one because by that time, I would be strong enough to protect that person. Then, I realized that I could forget while I fought and it became a way of escaping from everything.
-So, you became Zanza, you came to Tokyo and then, you met Kenshin...
-...and Megumi.
-You met her because you lost me.
Sano stared at his captain. For him, it made no sense to be happy because of the loss of a loved one.
-That's not true. We could meet in another way, in other circumstances...
Souzo cut on him.
-Do you want to know what would happen if I would survive, or if the Sekihoutai wouldn't be destroyed?
He nodded. His captain took his hand and in a moment, their surroundings changed.