Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or its characters. I only play with them.

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Chapter 1

Megumi sensed a presence as she cleaned her medical tools in the clinic. She often sensed a presence nearby, but it was usually her paranoid imagination. Since nothing ever came of it.

Not tonight.

She immediately felt the difference, like the difference between a panic attack and a real heart attack. Instinct pushed through the tang of adrenaline. Someone was really there.

All of her patients had been tended for the day and she was alone. Dr. Gensei, who ran the clinic, left early to take his grandaughters Ayame and Suzume to pick their favorite flowers by the river.

So, no one would hear her scream.

This thought occurred to her during the ten minutes the person lingered in the early evening shadows outside the door. Megumi deftly slipped her scalpel into the sleeve of her doctor's coat.

The problem with having some experience with criminals is that Megumi never quite shook off her paranoia. In her desire to become a skilled and knowledgeable doctor, she'd been misled by her mentor who worked for a drug lord, Kanryu. By then, it was too late to escape. Once her mentor died, she'd been complicit—forced—into making a rare and powerful opiate in his place. And the organization had held onto her, and her ability, like a vice.

Thanks to Kenshin's group, she was free from that and finally a respectable doctor. Repenting for her misdeeds.

But Megumi stilled waited for the other shoe to drop. For some danger or sadness to find her. She couldn't really be happy. Could she?

The presence now came closer. Her senses prickled, and the hair rose painfully on the back of her neck like pins. The person was a few feet to her left. At her rising fear, spots were starting to form around her vision. Scalpel firmly in hand, she whirled around and used it. But a hand caught her wrist between them. The scalpel knocked to the floor.

"It's just me," said Sanosuke, vexation tinting his voice, despite the quick surprise across his face.

"Sanosuke." Her voice sounded horribly weak and breathy. He was used to seeing her more put together, not frazzled. She felt embarrassed.

They were friends, sort of. As Kenshin's best friend, he helped save her back then, even if he hated her a little bit. She couldn't blame him. The drug she had made killed one of his friends. She was still trying not to let that guilt destroy her.

She cleared her throat, mentally grappling for her foxy alter-ego. "I thought you were… Nothing." She had to shake this off. Someday. Before she hurt anyone.

"He's not coming back," he said. They both knew who he was.

Megumi forced a smile. "I know that, of course. Kanryu is in prison. It would be unlikely."

Even if he did resurface, Sanosuke, Kenshin, and their group at Kaoru's dojo would protect her if they could. They all seemed to have exceptional fighting skills or abilities. Even after a year, Megumi was still getting used to their friendship.

"Sometimes the mind does what it wants," said Sanosuke. "You don't have to pretend you're fine."

Too often, he could read her. Out of the entire group, Sanosuke behaved brutish and careless, and even idiotic, but he had a funny way of making her confront herself. He was still gripping her wrist, not painfully, but firm enough. The small effort of stopping her attack with the scalpel had jerked her close to him. And suddenly, she was very aware of him. Specifically, his body. He was tall with broad shoulders and a nipped waist, with long, slender muscles. Despite his slim frame, he exuded pure male power.

He seemed to realize how close they were the same moment she did, and released her like she had a disease. It was for the best.

"I'm just saying, you don't have to pretend to be strong." He winced. "That's not what I meant."

"Let's forget it, okay? It's just an off night. Did I hurt you?"

"Your aim was way off."

Megumi bent to pick up the scalpel and placed it with the rest of her tools. Over her shoulder she took a peek at his right fist, the one he kept bandaged for fighting. It looked uninjured, to her relief. No gambling fights lately or saving damsels at the Akabeko.

"What are you doing here?" she said. "I don't have any food. Especially for a freeloader like you."

"Freeloader?" he said with fake outrage. It was no secret that ever since Sanosuke gave up being a fighter-for-hire, he'd lived off a tab at the Akabeko and mooched meals at the Kamiya dojo. She didn't want to think how steep his gambling debts might be.

He helped himself to a stool and crossed his feet at the ankles. His expression was back to its usual careless, sleepy look. Eyes like a slumberous lover, and his hair always looked mussed from a tatami mat. She took her time organizing her tools until her face stopped burning.

"I passed Dr. Gensei in town," he said, "He told me you were working late. It's dark out."

"Oh, thanks."

The clinic wasn't far from her home, but her heart warmed for one long beat. She dismissed the feeling. Sanosuke was just bored and looking for something to do. He didn't really care...

When she was finished, she gathered her things and locked the clinic. The dirt road was quiet. Wagon sellers and shopkeepers had closed up already. Sanosuke strolled beside her, keeping some distance between them.

"Since you mentioned my freeloading ways, it wouldn't hurt to reward me with food for my troubles," he said.

"I didn't mention it like that. And walking me home isn't an actual job, so no payment."

"Right now it's feeling like one." His arms were folded across his chest, his swagger relaxed.

It wasn't usual that she was alone with Sanosuke. It also wasn't usual that she worked late. When they were all together at the dojo, Kaoru and the others talked over each other so much that it filled any quiet dips of awkwardness with Sanosuke. But now their friends weren't around to fill that space. They quibbled, and then...this. Silent pauses that made her feel too aware of something.

She mentally reached to continue their argument, where things felt safer. "I'm sure it feels like hard work for someone who doesn't have a job."

A vein flexed across his forehead.

"Lazing about all day in the sun at the dojo," she continued. "Kaoru's become too lenient."

"I guard the dojo. And it's my job to keep an eye on Kenshin."

"Sure. Like a faithful dog."

He missed a step and almost tripped. "A what?"

"You sleep in the sun, get fed for free, bark at anything that moves..." She ticked the similarities off with her fingers. A glance at his face and she couldn't help herself. She laughed loudly, knowing it would irritate him further.

His ears turned red. "You don't like dogs. I remember," he said.

The only real dog she'd ever encountered was Notaro, an escaped canine who lived with them briefly, though she really hadn't appreciated the animal. The dog was big, smelly, and jumped on her.

Still, she expected Sanosuke to joke back or continue the fake outrage he often displayed. She couldn't decipher his flat tone.

They arrived at her home, a women's boarding house in a plain but respectable area of the city. Megumi inwardly sighed with relief. Their chatter had sustained the short trip, and she fought the urge to race inside. "Thanks again," she said.

"Don't forget, you owe me a meal."

He didn't leave right away, not until she walked in and slid the door closed behind her. Megumi was suddenly very tired. Trying to uncomplicate her thoughts regarding Sanosuke was a tiring activity.

She placed her medicine kit on a low table in her room, in the usual place. But her other things on the table weren't in their usual place. Her makeup powders had been opened and moved around, as if she had interrupted someone in a hurry.

She whirled around to study the rest of her room. A hand closed over her mouth. And no one heard her scream.