Disclaimer- no I do not own any part of Rurouni Kenshin—I don't look like Nobuhiro Watsuki, do I? ::looks in mirror:: for heaven's sake I'm a GIRL!
A/n- ok…this fic is kinda weird…not in the hentai way, but kinda like the weird-funny way…anyway, Megumi goes to visit Sanosuke (you'll learn why later) and finds him sleep-walking…
Snow
Megumi Takani packed up a jar of liquid into her medicine box and added a roll of bandages. "OK, that should do it." With a sigh she stood up and opened the clinic's door.
As she walked to Sanosuke Sagara's house, she sighed again, "Remind me why I have to do this." She said aloud to no one in particular.
Because, her inner mind admonished, your boyfriend's sick and Kaoru forced you to visit him.
"WHO's my boyfriend???" Megumi cursed her inner mind.
That tori-atama, her inner mind replied back slyly.
~*~
"Ugh…" Sanosuke Sagara rolled over in his futon. Gawd I hate these damn colds…what happened to my strong body before which was immuned to colds? After that he let loose a string of curses and despite his previous statement a smile slowly crept across his lips. The fox was coming to visit him. And bringing some medicine to boot.
"Urgh…" he repeated gruffly and slowly opened his eyes. He saw his gi sprawled on the floor next to him, and managed to slip it on, "At least gotta be decent for the kitsune-onna."
With that he fell back asleep.
~*~
Megumi neared the shabby shack the rooster head lived in and, hesistating for a millisecond, knocked.
No reply.
She knocked again, harder.
Still no reply.
"GET UP YOU LAZY TORI-ATAMA AND OPEN THE DOOR!" she yelled, kicking at the door.
There was a creak and the door opened.
"Finally," Megumi looked up and found the gangster, but his eyes were closed and his arms were straight out in front of him.
"Must…eat…" he mumbled, staggering along the street.
"Er…" Megumi grabbed his gi. "Are you feeling okay?"
He mumbled something back and stumbled ahead.
"Hello?" the doctoress asked impatiently. "Oh!" she suddenly realized. The baka's eyes were closed, that a big clue, plus he seems to be a trancelike state. "Sleepwalking." Gently, she yanked on the teenager's gi and pulled him back into his shack and led him to his futon.
She waited for him to crawl back in still in a sleepy condition but instead he began moving around, knocking over a chair and the medicine box Megumi brought (it was resting on a table).
"Hey!" she cried, catching it before it fell. "Watchit, Sano no baka!" she scowled, and was about to slap him awake when Genzai's word popped into her head: It is not wise to wake a sleepwalker whilst he is still sleeping. He might mistaken you for an enemy and injure you in the process.
"He can't hurt me." Megumi tried to convince herself, and raised a hand to slap him.
But at that split second, Sanosuke lunged forward and clasped Megumi in his arms.
"Aa!" she exclaimed softly.
"Mm…" Sanosuke was mumbling, hugging Megumi to his chest, "Yukiko…"
"Yukiko? His…?" Megumi patted his head awkwardly, still thinking hard.
"Yukiko!" Sanosuke suddenly cried and, tilting Megumi's chin forward, kissed her squarely and firmly on the lips.
"Kyyyyyyya!" she yelled, pushing him away.
"Yukiko?" the rooster head had on a hurt look(though she couldn't hardly tell with his eyes closed), "What's wrong?"
Megumi's mind suddenly came to a screeching halt—this Yukiko, Sanosuke had obviously kissed before, and she had kissed back, that was why he was so hurt when she pushed away.
So who was this Yukiko person?
Megumi decided to play along, "Sorry, Sano."
Sanosuke's face broke into a grin and he plopped down (surprisingly on his futon—he's obviously used to his room so much that he walk around it in a sleeping state). He patted the space next to him, "Sit down, Yuki."
Megumi swore silently to herself: "If he lays one finger on me, I'll smash his head in and run for it."
"Well?" Sanosuke looked at her expectantly, but his eyes remained closed. It was a wonder, Megumi had to admit, that he was still asleep.
Megumi sat down cautiously, careful to edge closer to the door so she can make a break for it if needed. Sanosuke wrapped his arms around her and said sleepily to her, "I love you, you know that, don't you, Yuki-chan?"
Megumi felt a pang in her heart. He had clearly loved this "Yukiko" before, and she had apparently loved him back. "Yes," she said, strained, "I know that, Sano."
"Call me what you've always called me before, Yuki-chan, Sano-chano."
Megumi stifled a laugh—Sanosuke had definitely been on nicknames-terms with this woman. "Okay, Sano-chano."
Sanosuke then reached for a strand of her hair, "Your hair's grown longer, Yuki." And he leaned towards her.
Megumi froze. Her instincts screamed at her to grab her medicine box and smash his head in like she promised, but somehow she couldn't. So all she could do was watch helplessly as he came closer, lips slightly parted, and softly kissed her. Megumi responded rapidly, her shaky hands reached up to intertwine with his brown locks, and her lips moved in accordance with his as their tongues did a dance of frenzy. She was panting by the time they parted, and she beamed up at him.
But what she heard later wiped thr smile right off her face: "You're still as good as ever, Yukiko."
So…
He still thought he was kissing Yukiko, his old girlfriend.
Well, that can't be helped.
But now that he thought she was Yukiko, he couldn't hurt her, right? So she gently shook his shoulders, "Sano, wake up."
There was a brief pause, Sanosuke's eyelids fluttered, and then he blinked. "Vixen?"
Megumi smiled. "At last. Do you still have your cold?" she suddenly realized that if he did, and he French-kissed her, then she was almost bound to catch the virus too.
"Well…um, yeah." he admitted.
Megumi nodded, "I thought so. Here, I brought some chicken soup." At this she opened one of the drawers in her medicine box, took out a bowl and the jar, and poured the liquid into the bowl. She touched it with her finger. Amazingly enough, it was still hot.
"Here." She handed it to him, spoon included.
Sanosuke ignored the spoon and gulped the whole thing down in a chug.
"Oh. Well, that went fast." Megumi shrugged as she put the bowl back. "Now, tell me about Yukiko."
Sanosuke choked and sputtered. "What?!"
"Yukiko. You said her name when you were sleepwalking. You—um—thought I was her." Megumi said.
Sanosuke's face reddened. "I did?"
Megumi nodded.
Sanosuke buried his face in his hands. "Oh gawd, I'm dead." He groaned, and turned to Megumi again. This time his voice was barely above a whisper, "I kissed you, didn't I." It wasn't a question.
Megumi nodded.
"Did you…smack me anywhere?"
Megumi smiled shyly, "Only on the lips."
Sanosuke's eyes widened. Then he shook his head, "Okay, calm down. Anyway, ya wanna know about Yukiko?"
Megumi nodded again.
"She was my girlfriend for three years while I lived the life of Zanza, the fighter for hire. She stood alongside of me, and sometimes we were hired as a two-for-one deal. She had extremely good martial arts skills, and many people preferred her over me when they wanted a clean and easily won fight. We were so in love, we were thinking about getting married. She was one year younger than me, and had no family either. She was so desperate for someone to love, and she was overjoyed when she found me. She loved me like her own family, and occasionally more than that. But one night—it all changed. She was hired again, to fight for a family grudge. Unluckily, the man she was supposed to fight was much more experienced than she, and he killed her."
Megumi gasped.
"Yes, she was killed. We buried her by the river near Tokyo, where she was born, and I mourned for her day and night. I was so depressed everyday I felt like dying myself. Until I met Kenshin. Until I met each and every one of you." He grinned weakly.
Megumi was touched. This man—this supposedly strongest man around until Kenshin came along—once wept for a loved one, and even once loved someone so deeply he was willing to die for her. She was jealous of Yukiko but respected her at the same time.
Megumi slipped a comforting arm around Sanosuke, and leaned her head against his shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll be here for you."
Sanosuke stared down at her, and he couldn't keep it in any longer—all the bottled up tears and anguish came flowing out of his eyes, and the great Zanza was at once sobbing into the fox doctoress's embrace.
~*~
"So, your question is, did Sanosuke ever get over Yukiko? Yes, he did, and he married Megumi later on, but that's a much different story than the I'm telling now. So shush up, little ones, and listen well. Past relationships are valuable, treasure and cherish them, but the present is a gift, which is exactly why it's called so. And, now go to sleep. You still have school tomorrow." An elderly lady ushered the three girls into their own bedrooms.
She slumped by the wall, a smile on her face, and picked up a small dusty old picture frame on the piano. It had a picture of a young married couple, both smiling and the raven-haired woman was happily holding a baby boy. The father grinned and had his arm around the woman, his red badanna seemed to be still flapping in the air. The old woman traced over the photo, leaving a trail of whiteness, and a patch of dust on her finger. She smiled at the photo, "I will always love you, forever and always, Sanosuke."
"Grandmother Megumi!" a young woman bustled in, her face flushed and excited. "I'm so glad I caught you! Are the girls asleep?" she nodded at the three closed doors.
"Hai, Reiko." Megumi replied, and put the photo down.
The woman ecstatically went on, "Guess what I found in the attic again? This!" she pushed a small book into Megumi's hands.
Megumi opened the book, and found a letter addressed to her in Sanosuke's sprawled handwriting: To my Megumi, from your very own tori-atama.
"I bet grand dad Sanosuke hid it there to give it to you later on." Reiko said proudly. But then she sombered down. "But he was too late…"
Megumi smiled sadly, "Don't worry Reiko, what's past is past, I wont linger upon it now."
Reiko smiled back, "Well then! Open it!"
Megumi's withered face smiled again, and a beam of the old foxy Megumi shone thru, "In my room, in privacy."
"Aw c'mon!" Reiko whined, but went off to the kitchen.
Megumi went up to her bedroom and slowly opened the letter:
To my dear Megumi,
When you are reading this, I might not be here right now. Please don't mourn too much for me, as I did to Yukiko. I still love Yuki, and will always do, but one must never linger on the past, instead face the present. I just want you to know I love you and will always do so, even when Death do us apart. I long for the day you join me up here,
Love,
Sanosuke Sagara
Megumi folded up the short letter with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.
A/n- ok! Hope y'all liked that! In the last section, Megumi is already a great-grandmother (Reiko is her granddaughter, and the three little girls listening to her story are her great-grandchildren), and Sanosuke has passed on. Now, I know Sano is younger than Megumi, but he died of leukemia. I just made that up, don't go correcting me or anything.
Flames will be used for toasting marshmallows and enjoyed. Heartily.
So later dayz!
CyberSerpent .~