Standard Disclaimers Apply, btw.
To Kyoto, Returning Chapter One: The Man in TattersBy Ushuaia
Author's notes: Once again, it's a Rurouni Kenshin fic. This one is (yet again) a sequel. No Kenshin here. Neither is Kaoru. It's just the rest of the gang.
Gazes started flying towards him. He's walking proud, chin up, although his clothes are in tatters and his hair disheveled. He has crown of unruly mane around his face that makes him more like a dangerous mountain troll rather than someone who used to live in this town.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a mother pulling her child away from his path. He could hear murmurs, and-as rounding about a corner-he could feel their rude stares trailing after him.
The sooner I reach Akabeko, the better, he thought.
"Yahiko, I haven't seen you in a while," Tae welcomed a familiar customer in. But she knew better. He only came to see Tsubame. Unfortunately, she is out shopping for a few lacking ingredients and won't be back until later. She led the teen into a booth and said, "Tsubame's bound to come back in a while, You can sit here while you wait for her."
"Well, uhm..." There's a blush on his nose as Yahiko sat in the booth. He meant to stand up and come back later but Tae gave her a stern look that he couldn't refuse. He sat there in silence.
He couldn't blame the head waitress. The last time he said that 'he'll come back later,' he got himself almost arrested for being suspected as an accomplice to robbers because he kept coming back five times without ordering anything.
Kaoru almost gave his ear a bleeding after being scolded.
"Kaoru..." His uneasy face fell down in sadness. It had been six months since she passed away, a year after Kenshin died. He was confused after that, because he felt something he thought he'd never experience again: He was lost again, as if the lonely little pickpocket has come back to haunt him.
He tried everything in his power to restore the Kamiya Kasshin dojo back to its original state in society, as Kaoru had envisioned. Although it is going well, there are times that he felt that it is not enough.
He shook his head slightly as if to shake the grim thoughts away. He must think positive. He must be strong. Or else Tsubame will wonder again why he's so sad.
The entrance of the restaurant slid open and everyone fell into a silent hush. Yahiko looked and saw the most untidiest man on the planet: His face is hidden underneath all that dark brown hair that even that red bandana around his head didn't manage to keep them in place. He's wearing a long sleeved shirt on top of another one, which is thinner. A black belt wrapped around his waist holding both the shirts and his pants in place. His pants are muddy and dirty, as if it hadn't been washed for months. Black boots completes his getup.
His clothes have on thing in common: there are-if not prevalent-holes in them.
"Uhm, excuse me, sir," Tae said once she reached the stranger. "Are you perhaps lost?"
The stranger looked at her that brought Yahiko standing up suddenly. "Do you think I'm lost?!" He asked back. Then went to the nearby table, dropped his equally tattered bag on the floor. "Of course I came here to eat!"
As he started barking out his orders to the obviously scared waitress, Yahiko couldn't help be disturbed and calm at the same time. Still standing, his head peering over to see him more clearly (as like the other customers are doing), he squinted his eyes on him. He looks somewhat familiar...
"Yahiko-chan. I'm sorry I kept you waiting."
Tsubame's voice interrupted his thoughts. She's already standing beside him, her wide brown eyes looking at him and her short hair swaying in lieu of her movements.
"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me Yahiko-chan," he whined. Seventeen years of age and standing a few inches taller than her, Yahiko Myoujin is not a considered as a child anymore.
"Oops, sorry, Yahiko-chan."
He groaned.
The subtle chatter of the restaurant came back slowly, since the dirty stranger started munching on his orders and in no intention of causing any trouble. That seems to calm Yahiko down, but shot right up again when he saw the headline of a newspaper dated two days ago.
"Nani?! Kanryuu escaped?!"
Tae was immediately beside the Kamiya dojo master and gave him another hard look. Yahiko sank bank to his seat.
"He escaped?" He repeated in a low howl as soon as Tae disappeared.
"I thought you knew," Tsubame said. "The police gave some people the creeps when they come marching around surprising them. I heard the search wasn't over, because we know how crazy that man can be."
Crazy? He was utterly insane, Kenshin should've killed him when he had the chance. But no matter how angry he became (even flipping back his reverse edge sword), he managed only to scare the drug dealer spitless, causing him to went deranged.
"Does Megumi know?"
Her face fell. "Yes, unfortunately."
No wonder the doctor seem to snap at people lately, he thought. The mere idea of him lurking around again scares her. Worse, now that the news is out, it makes her as dangerous as a viper.
"What did she say?"
"Well, she seems to be pretty silent, according to Ayame," Tsubame said. "Which troubles her more."
"Should we go and visit her? She might need a bodyguard," Yahiko suggested.
"Ayame said not to do that. Megumi-san already bandaged a head without air holes, threw a scalpel that got one of his patients nearly killed, and stitched more skin than any doctor around," she said with worry. "If you go, you might lose your head."
Yahiko gave out a chuckle. "Your overreacting, Tsubame. It's Megumi we're talking about. The best she could do to us is--" Chop your whole body off, not just your head, a voice said in the back of his mind. Tsubame has a point. Going to face the Lady Doctor in her giddy position could not be healthy to anyone right now.
"How did she manage the clinic, then?" He wondered.
"Ayame. She's always there just in time to prevent any thing that Megumi-san could do to inflict more pain."
There was a noise, like a shoji opening, then closing. Almost everyone watched him go, and sighed in relief.
However, Tae is not relieved at all.
"That man didn't pay is bill," is all she could mutter.
Takada Kanryuu had escaped two days ago, and Megumi doesn't like it one bit.
The first thing that popped in her mind is that he'll probably seek revenge on the people who placed him in jail: Kenshin, Kaoru, Yahiko, Sano, and her.
She wasn't that concerned about her welfare as much as she's concerned with the others who could possibly be hurt in the process. Kenshin and Kaoru already passed away. The roosterhead is probably in some country by now. Kanryuu would have opted for Kenji. However, he is off in Edo training under Hiko Soujiro, so he'll be safe there. That left her and Yahiko.
She had to admit that the boy is getting better in his kendo. But-if worse comes to worse-he'll be the only one who could protect them. It's going to be one-sided if Kanryuu showed up with a hundred armed men, which could be a huge possibility.
She sighed. She could also run away. But she promised herself and to the gang that she will never do that. And she won't. Besides, she has work and her patients need her, especially if Dr. Genzai had become bed-ridden for sometime now.
"Uhm...Megumi-san?"
"Yes, Ayame?"
"Your patient." She pointed at the man struggling to get air. Apparently, she overdid the bandages around his face, blocking any air passages. Again.
They hurriedly undid the bandages, and the man choked for air.
Megumi cannot believe her luck. Her brooding about Kanryuu's escape distracted her so much that she almost killed the man-among many others for two days in a row. She immediately got up from her seat.
She was on her way towards the empty operating room to lock herself up and prevent any more disasters when she heard some of the words the two ladies in line are saying.
"--she's possibly lonely. After all, she's not married yet."
"Really? I thought she and that gangster looking guy were getting along just fine."
She slammed the door, hard. And she almost screamed in fright when he saw a man sitting in the room, looking at her with a smug reflection. He's dirty, wearing rags for clothes, and a hair that is in need of serious trimming.
But she saw something else that is very familiar: a danger that only one man can possess.
"Sanosuke."
Author's notes:
Hello and welcome! I am just another writer (not washed up. Struggling, perhaps) putting another statistic in Rurouni Kenshin's fanfictions.
This fanfic had come a long way, and it wasn't supposed to be left in my pile of other documents for six months. Shrug Not my fault. It went two months in hiding, and took me that while before I found the chapters. Yes, chapters. More are coming.
Giving you something to expect, I am a parody writer. But then writers also grow up and try other genres, without cutting the thread where they started. So expect this to be action-filled, dramatic, romantic, and funny. If any of those descriptions didn't fit at all after you finished reading this, then hunt me down and give me a whacking.
Hehehe I've lingered long. Have a nice day and happy reading. And oh, reviews, comments and alike are always welcome.
Ushuaia
