Test of Faith, a rurouni kenshin fanfic

Disclaimer- I don't own Rurouni Kenshin

A/n- I just reread "What Women Want" by Karina Kineshi (EXCELLENT read, highly-recommended) and the part where it came to Sano dying his jacket and gi red—OMG!!! I have a Rurouni Kenshin calendar I bought at Ani-Magic (mutters: "For TEN freakin dollars!") and on the September/October 2002 part, they actually HAVE AN OFFICIAL PIC OF SANO IN A RED JACKET AND GI!!!!! AHHH! Coincidence or is Karina psychic? Whoa…

(Oh oh and on the November/December part they had Megumi in a European dress just like in A Matter of Choice (VERY GOOD) by umm…ahhh! Can't remember! My most sincere apologies to the author ::bows down::)

Test of Faith

Sanosuke Sagara couldn't believe what he was doing as he handed a white package to Samuru.

Samuru, the big, gruff man in his late thirties, took the package, a greedy light shining in his eyes. He ripped it open to reveal wads of yen. "Good work." He told Sanosuke, stuffing the cash into his pocket. He slapped Sanosuke on the back, "You're officially in, buddy."

Sanosuke wriggled away from the fat man's grasp, and demanded, "This means that you'll keep your hands off the people at the dojo right?"

"Oh that thing." The man gave a booming laugh. "Yuh, Samuru keeps his promises, righ' boys?"

"Yes Lord Samuru."

~*~

Kaoru Kamiya wiped the sweat off her brow and looked at the ceiling. Then she turned back to the adamant ten-years-old, "Can we please just get on with the lesson?"

Yahiko Myoujin, panting, replied, "Not—::pant::until—you teach me—::gasp::the new technique!"

Kaoru shot daggers at him, "I told you, it's not until you get to be TWELVE!"

"But that's two years away!"

"Only two years! Gawd cant you be more patient?"

As they rambled on, Kenshin Himura poked his head thru the dojo, "Er…Kaoru-dono? Yahiko-kun?"

"WHAT?!?!"

Kenshin backed away, a nervous smile on his face, "Eh…I just wondered…if you want the hakamas hung out to dry now or if you want me to sweep the porch…"

"SWEEP THE PORCH!" "HANG OUT THE HAKAMAS!" and with that the dojo door slammed shut in Kenshin's face.

"Oro?"

~*~

"There," Megumi added one last stitch to the patient's arm. "She'll be fine now, come back to see me in another week or two."

The mother gave Megumi a gratified smile and led the little girl (still sniffling) outside.

"Next is…" Megumi glanced at her clipboard. "Sa—" she struggled to read the scrawled signature. "Samuru Azuteru. He'll be coming at 7:00 PM. Plenty of time to grab a bite at the Akabeko then." She whipped off her gloves and grabbed her purse, making for the restaurant.

~*~

Sanosuke glared at Samuru for the longest time. "You're going to what?!?!"

Samuru rolled his eyes, "Sano, Sano. I already told you, you're going in the place of me to this doctoress's clinic and pretend to be sick, and while she's checkin over ya, knock her unconscious and bring her back here."

"What are ya gonna do to her when I bring her back?"

"Why…" Samuru licked his lips greedily, "have some fun."

~*~

Megumi stopped halfway to the Akabeko. "Wait…" she screwed up her face, trying to remember. "I remember…I have an appointment with someone…" she thumbed thru her thoughts, suddenly resting on a page. "Ah!" she allowed herself the tiniest smile, "the great Tori-Atama himself."

~*~

"You say you've got an appointment with da doc before so you say you cant complete the mission?" Samuru studied Sanosuke carefully.

"Uh-huh." Sanosuke nodded, dread lumping in his throat.

"All the better then! You snatch her at your appointment, the earlier, the better!" Samuru laughed again, his laugh booming off the wall evilly.

Sanosuke bit his lip.

~*~

Megumi made an instant backtrack back to the clinic. She had to be ready for Sanosuke. But why??? Her mind questioned.

Well…maybe because something about him just attracted her. His cocky way of grinning, his boyish charm, and most importantly, his loyalty to his friends. You could always count on rooster head.

So she slipped on the kerchief she usually tied on her head during appointments, and she retied her smock, making sure every knot was tight. Then she went thru the hustle of rearranging the flowers in the vase on the cabinet.

She took one last look-over the whole clinic. Sparkling clean. But it wasn't perfect for the gangster, so she accidentally-on-purpose spilled a little of the water of the vase onto the wooden table. There. Now it was perfect.

~*~

Sanosuke cursed at himself angrily as he trudged to Megumi's clinic. He tried to make the short walk to the little hospital take as long as possible, silently hoping she wasn't there. But it was to no avail since the walk was maybe just a bit too short, which was weird, because it usually took so long.

As he approached the screened door, he hesitated, then rapped on the screen like he always did, hollering, "Oi kitsune! I'm here!"

Megumi poked her head, a look of annoyance mixed with slight pleasure as she opened the door and let him in. "Is the poor hand still mangled?"

Sanosuke tried to attain a casual aura, "Yuh I think so."

Megumi plopped him down on a stool and sat down on the chair opposite of it. As she unwound the bandages, he couldn't help but feel his heartbeat quicken. Her hands were so soft, so delicate…

Megumi noticed the change in Sanosuke as his face began to flush red. Strange, that never happened before in all her treatments for his hand. But she continued like nothing was wrong, applying medicine to the wounds and dabbing alcohol to prevent infection. Then she took out the roll of bandages and was about to wound it around his hand when he grimaced and gave a hard punch to the side of her head.

"Sa…no?" she whispered weakly before falling unconscious.

~*~

Sanosuke carried the KOed doctor to Samuru's lair, all the time cursing at himself and occasionally caressing Megumi's cheek with his free hand, whispering, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

She gave a soft groan and stirred ever so slightly. Sanosuke gave a jump.

But she was still conked out.

"Mmm…Sano…" she was mumbling. "Stupid…baka…mumbo…Ken-san…Sano…uhmm…Sano-chan…"

Sanosuke stopped and stared at her, amazed. Did she just call me Sano-chan?

"Sano…no baka…"

No, it must've been my imagination.

"Gah…Sano…Sanosuke…"

Huh?

"Why…can't…you…see…"

See what?

"How much I…blah…luh…"

Luh? Lu…love?!?!

"Mmm…luh…" Megumi shifted in Sanosuke's arms and suddenly bolted upright. Her face was chalk white and her mouth suddenly opened in a scream. "NO! OTOU-SAN!!! Oni-san!"

Sanosuke had jumped back at her sudden outburst but with closer scrutiny he realized she was still asleep, and in fact, still sleep-talking. She must have relived the moment when her brother and father died. How horrible.

And here he was making it all worse.

~*~

Samuru and the rest of his "guys" immediately scurried over as Sanosuke brought Megumi in, gingerly laying her on a blanket. "Listen you guys," he gave what he hoped was a scary look, "I don't want you messing with her. She's been thru enough already. I only brought her here to avoid the Kamiya dojo's being set on fire."

"And what will you do ta stop us?" a loud voice bellowed from the back of the room. A young arrogant man named Derrian sauntered out, his chest thrust proudly out. He was about the same age as Sanosuke and had twice the ego (which is a lot if you think about it).

Sanosuke glared at him, "Whatever it takes." He replied quietly.

"Oh yeah? You like this fox doc?" Derrian gave a short and high laugh. "She ain't nuttin' but a whore Sano, forget it."

Sanosuke was getting mad now. "She is NOT a whore! And I don't wanna hear ya call her that again!"

Derrian lifted both his arms and made a low bow, "The pleasure is all mine if you want to fight."

"Oh boy do I." Sanosuke cracked his knuckles. "Bring it on, Derri."

~*~

Kenshin raced around the dojo, fumbling with a pot of hot meso soup and exclaiming, "HOT HOT HOT!!! Someone should help me take it, that they should! ONEGAI!!!"

Kaoru took the pot away from him and placed it on the porch, "Jeez Kenshin, the porch's right here if you need it."

Kenshin gave a low "Oro…" and Yahiko laughed.

"Seriously, Kenshin, you're hopeless around women." Yahiko shook his head, still laughing.

Kaoru and Kenshin both blushed a brilliant pink, each murmuring, "Yahiko no baka…" "Orooo, it was hot."

Yahiko noticed the degrees of both their faces and gave another snort, "Blushing now, aren't we the cute identical couple."

A vein popped in Kaoru's head, "That's IT!" she swung a finger at Yahiko, "Five hundred practice swings, start right now!"

Yahiko blinked.

"You heard me!"

A vein popped in Yahiko's head also, "Fine then, five hundred! Ugly busu!"

Kaoru conked him over the head with her kendo stick.

~*~

Megumi gave a small groan and rolled over onto her back. She found herself pretty scratched up and dried blood was caked around a wound on her left cheek. "Huh…? What…happened?" she noticed that two of the knots in her smock were untied, and she hastily retied them. Then she finally took the time to look around the dark and damp room she was in.

There was a scent of something bad in here, but what she couldn't fathom, finally, the answer dawned on her when she saw a familiar red bandanna lying on the ground next to a motionless figure.

"Sanosuke!" she cried, hurrying to her feet and scrambling over to the still body.

Yep, it was Sanosuke alright, a badly mangled version of him, at least. His already-messed up hair was even more mussed up, added to the fact that there was blood around the side of his temples. There were bruises and gashes all around his body, and his jacket was tossed carelessly aside, stained with blood.

"Oh my gawd, Sanosuke!" she immediately began racking thru her brain for some information on how to treat wounds without proper medical equipment. Then, without thinking, she ripped off a piece of her smock and bounded it around Sanosuke's forehead, all the while feeling his arms, making sure it wasn't broken.

~*~

Kenshin breathed in the afternoon air and walked more briskly along the road, hoping to catch up with Kaoru and Yahiko at the Akabeko before sundown. They had invited Sanosuke and Megumi beforehand, to celebrate the occasion of Tae's birthday. But he had an uneasy feeling that Sano and Megumi weren't gonna make it, so he stayed after in the dojo, hoping to get word from them. But instead it just delayed him for ten minutes.

~*~

Samuru laughed again and handed Derrian fifty hundred yen. "That was quite a show you put on back there, Derrian,"

Derrian grinned and flexed his muscles, "Hey, that Zanza aint no match for ole Derri here!"

"But still, he did put up a good fight. Especially when you started to untie the doctoress's smock." Another voice piped.

Derrian's face darkened, "Ah yes. I've always fancied the foxy doc at the clinic. Pity her face is now ruined, since I had 'accidentally' scraped it."

"She's a pretty one." They all agreed.

~*~

Megumi sighed in relief and leaned back against the wall. It was okay. Sanosuke was going to live. Those b*st*rds had beaten him up pretty badly but he was going to be fine.

She fingered the red bandanna she held in her hands right now. Just a few minutes ago it was around her own forehead, being the only thing available that could keep her bangs out of the way while she worked. Now she pondered how important it really was to Sanosuke. It was an important part of his youth, that was for sure. But what else could it stand for? What did the Red Report Team really mean to him?

She gently set the bandanna down on the floor, then picked it up again, studied it, and then finally brought it up to her lips and whispered to it, "Aishiteru." Wrapping it around her head again.

~*~

Sanosuke moaned softly and he felt a stabbing pain right below his ribs. Oh right. Derrian, the f*ck*ng b*st*rd, had broken some.

He instantly felt a warm hand on his forehead. Then something comfortably cool was draped over it. "Mmm…that feels good…" he found himself murmuring.

The hand gave a slight twitch, then it stroked his cheek. A soft, feminine voice whispered, "Go back to sleep, tori-atama. It's going to be okay."

And with that he felt so contentedly assured he actually fell asleep for a while.

But then he woke up again and felt the hand now on his right arm, bounding fabric to a wound. He remembered this touch well. It was…

"Megumi?"

"Mm?"

"Where am I?"

"I dunno, you brought me here."

A pain slashed thru his heart. "Oh. Right."

"So where exactly are we?"

"Umm…" Sanosuke began flipping thru his mind. He never was one for memory. "I think…we're still in Tokyo…near the umm…" he paused, "Akabeko, I think."

The hand was now on his bare chest. "Well then, that's good. I remember Ken-san summoning us to go to the Akabeko with him tonight. It's dusk right now, I should be able to get him if I hurry."

Sanosuke winced. "Do you always have to involve Kenshin? I'm big enough to stand up on my own two feet, ya know."

Megumi laughed sarcastically, "Yes but you still don't know how to control yourself. I see you've broken your hand again."

Sanosuke felt a wave of embarrassment, "Yeah, well…"

Megumi smiled. "It's okay. You helped me. I know that much."

Sanosuke smiled back.

~*~

"Oi fox?" Sanosuke called softly as night settled in.

"Hm?"

"How long are we gonna stay here?"

"Until you get better or Ken-san comes."

"Oh."

"Why?"

Well, 'cuz you know, this is Samuru's place, and you know…" he shifted uncomfortably, "they might come home anytime."

Megumi's eyes widened. Sanosuke had explained what had happened just mere minutes ago. "Really?" she whispered.

"Yeah."

"Oh…so what do we do?"

"If they start comin' in, we hide."

"Where?"

"Anywhere."

"Oh, that's a fat lot of help."

"Anytime."

"But, seriously, where do we hide?"

"Well there's the blankets for one thing, and then ther—GET DOWN!" he hissed frantically, pushing Megumi down into the futon, hidden by the blankets.

"Mmph!" she struggled to get up, but ceased when Sanosuke said in a low voice, "The screen's opening."

~*~

The screen door slid open, and Sanosuke allowed himself a tiny peek at the person standing outside. When he saw the silhouette framed against the moonlight he gave a sigh and squirmed out of the blankets. "Kenshin! Took ya long enough!"

"Ken-san?" Megumi peeked thru the blankets, saw Kenshin, and came out also.

Kenshin took one look at the twosome and said promptly, "Doctor Genzai, now, quick." But then he took on a puzzled expression, "Sano, why is Megumi wearing your bandanna?"

~* Two Days Later *~

Megumi read the newspaper out loud with a triumphant grin on her face, "'Owing to the heroic efforts of an anonymous redhead, the police department of Tokyo was able to successfully capture illegal drug dealer Samuru Azuteru at approximately three PM yesterday afternoon. He was sentenced to twenty years in jail during the trial.'"

Sanosuke grinned back at her. "They caught the dirty b*st*rd."

"Yes, for once Saitou did something right." Megumi rolled up the newspaper and sat down next to Sanosuke, admiring the cherry blossom leaves blowing around them.

"Yeah." Sanosuke couldn't help putting his arm around Megumi's shoulder as she leaned her head on his.

"Sanosuke Sakura eh?" Megumi cracked, holding a cherry blossom petal up to his nose. Then he blew the petal away, and she kissed his nose.

He kissed her lips.

A/n- WAFF all around for the finale! Like it? Hate it? Think it's revolting? Whatever, just review! I'm just happy I actually finished this in one chapter! (personally I think Sano is pretty sexy in red AUGHHHH don't let me sister know! She'll kill me for taking "her man"!!!!)

Later dayz!

CyberSerpent .~

PS. I thought up the Sanosuke Sakura gag when I was chatting with a friend. His fav character was Sano and he also thought Sakura (from Cardcaptor Sakura) was weird so when I changed S-A-G-A-R-A to S-A-K-U-R-A, he exploded! I mean, from anger or laughter, I dunno! Maybe both! Anyway I drew a piccy of Sano standing next to a sakura tree looking pretty bishie with sakura petals wafting around. But my friend said he looked gay so I gave the pic to him as a souvenir (just kidding, I offered it but he didn't take it ;_; and all that hard work—LOL, I guess Sano did look a little girly!)

PPS. All you Gundam Wing fans out there—don't forget Oct. 14-20 is Duo Maxwell Week! I "Duo-lized" my computer with Duo wallpaper, Duo winamp skin, Duo music, Duo icons, and Duo colors (black and gray) everywhere!!! Three cheers for the most bishie Gundam pilot of them all! Yaaaay! ::hears sister in background yelling, "No! Trowa's the best!!!"::

PPPS. Or if you don't like Gundam Wing, October 21 is Sanosuke Day! ::hears sister cheering in background:: Play Kokoro no Hadaka, decorate with Sano wallpapers, Sano icons, Sano winamp skins, and Sano colors (red, black, and white, I think)!