CHAPTER 1: The Silver-Haired Waitress
"Waitress! Some sashimi please!"
"Meiou! Meiou Seishiro!"
The young serving girl wiped the sweat off her forehead as she made her way to the manager's room at the back of the Hana Restaurant in Shimabara.
She fiddled with her apron, wondering what the manager wanted this time. She was a very hard woman, and complaints often reach her even before the costumers do. It seems she has a good hearing when it comes to those.
She opened the flap to the room and answered nervously, "H…hai… you called for me?"
The older woman turned to her as she spoke. Maya Yumezaki is not really cold-hearted, but merely very strict when it comes to work. If she sees one of her workers sleeping around, that worker would face the threat of a bamboo sword on his face.
But still, she knows that she owes a lot to this woman.
Especially since she's her aunt…
"Meiou… is something wrong?"
Maya asked her quite gently, but still, the exhaustion in her voice made the girl's throat constrict. She clutched her apron and said, "Go…gomen nasai. I know I haven't been working a lot lately…"
"I'm going to send you to Kyoto."
Meiou's eyes widened at the words.
Maya turned to her as she continued, "I know that the reason you're exhausted is because you do almost all of the work around here. I really don't want you to die of exhaustion…"
"But I'm fine! Really! I can still work…"
Maya smiled, "It's not that, Meiou. I'm sending you to Kyoto because my cousin's restaurant needs more help there. She wanted me to send a hard-working worker, so I decided to send you off. Her wages are far better than mine, and you can take shifts so you don't have to tire yourself."
Meiou looked down at the floor, "De…demo…"
Maya came forward and patted her shoulder; "I want you to discover this for yourself, Meiou. You can't expect to work in this puny island for all your life, do you?"
"But… what will happen to you everyone?'
Maya snorted as she went to a nearby desk and took some papers. "We'll be fine. There are plenty of other people who want to work here. You go ahead, we'll write you." She smiled again as she gave the papers, "Here's your salary for this month, as well as a few Yens for your other expenses. Your boat and train ticket is there, as well as my letter for the head waitress."
Meiou smiled as she tucked the papers into her apron and bowed, "A…arigatou…Maya-sama… I'll go start packing now."
She headed for the flap again, but before she left, she asked, "What's the name of the restaurant I'm going to work at?"
"Lenny's."
"Arigato, Waity! Just put it in my tab, will you?"
Tae and Tsubame looked at the door to find that their regular customer has left again without paying. They both sweat-dropped as they started fixing the table.
Meanwhile, the man who didn't pay started walking down the dark street of Kyoto. His white pants and coat drifted eerily in the dark as he started whistling. His brown hair stood up on ends, with a red band keeping it from falling from his face. He looked like a very powerful and menacing man, with the sign of the Sekihou group on the back of his shirt.
But of course, the people knew who he was… he was Sanosuke Sagara. Friend of Kenshin Himura, and formerly known as Zanza the Gangster.
Sano stopped whistling for a while, his body sensing danger. His senses were right, for a cry for help came piercing the silence of the night by the river.
"Tasukete! Tasukete kudasai!"
The hooded-woman pushed off her assailants as they started ripping her things. The bag where she kept her things fell to the hand of one of the shortest of the thugs, who had started rummaging around for money. Another pinned her arm behind her back and had planted a wicked looking dagger on her neck. The leader of the thugs looked on, holding his sword on his shoulder and grinning wickedly as his man rummaged her bag.
"Oi! I found some money and a necklace!" said the short one.
"How much?"
"Four… five…six… seven… seven thousand five hundred Yen!"
The leader smirked as he walked towards the woman and smiled at her, "So much money for one woman. Where'd you get it? You a geisha or something?"
The woman snarled, "I am a waitress… which is a far more honorable occupation that yours, obviously."
"NANI!"
A hard slap made the woman's knees buckle, and the other thug held on to her so she wouldn't fall. She had bitten her lip, and blood started dripping from her minute wound. The leader caught her chin and forced her face to look at him. "So much spunk for a woman. Very spirited. I like that…"
"The girl's richer than we thought…"
The shorter thug had stuffed her money into his pocket, straightened up and said, "Well, seems like that's all she's got." He then grinned lasciviously, "I say we take other thing from her… like… her virtue, perhaps?"
The leader grinned wickedly at her, "Good idea…"
"IIE!"
"YAMERO!"
The three thugs looked behind them to find a man clothed in white smirking at them. The leader scoffed, "Get out of here, punk. Don't cause us any trouble…"
Sano scratched his head, "The way I see it, you guys are the ones causing trouble around here..." He cracked his knuckles and said, "And I don't like trouble makers."
The leader withdrew his sword and mentioned for his cohorts. The other thug released the woman and she fell to her knees to the dirt. The leader then smiled and said, "You asked for this, boy."
Sano smiled as he raised his fingers and mentioned them forward, "Ikuso…"
The fight was over just as quickly as it had started. Sano disposed the two lesser thugs with a punch and a kick even before they knew it. They fell to the dirt with a silent thud and the leader stood there gaping at his posse.
Sano yawned and said, "Oh… this is so boring. Are there any new guys around here? How about you? Maybe you can be of a challenge… Oro?"
It seems that the leader had run off, leaving his two friends unconscious. Sano smiled, "Coward…"
A gagging sound snapped him back and he went to where the woman was still kneeling on the dirt. She was holding her throat and coughing pretty badly, and it got him worried. He kneeled beside her and said, "Oi, daijobu desu ka?"
The hooded woman nodded and said, "Hai. Daijobu desu. I got a little nick on my neck and it's bleeding, but it's not deep."
She pulled the cloth covering her head and placed it on her neck to prevent the bleeding before looking up at Sano. And for the first time in ages, he felt his breath knocked out of his chest because of a woman.
The girl had long, silvery hair that fell gracefully down her back and slim shoulders, their tips reaching slightly near her waist. The locks framed her heart shaped face, cream of color and scented with cherry blossoms. The face sported full red lips, a quaint nose, and sky blue eyes with perfect lashes.
She bowed to him then, and Sano noticed she was wearing an emerald green kimono with a matching green obi. Even in the dark, Sano could see she was a well-endowed woman and he swallowed at the thought.
The red lips smiled at him and the blue eyes gazed gratefully at his face. "Thank you… for saving my life. I am in debt to you…"
Sano shook his head and smiled at the woman. He took an edge of his coat and ran it through her lip, cleaning away the blood. He then stood up and offered his hand. "You owe me no such thing. Ore wa Sanosuke Sagara."
The woman took his hand and raised herself up. Sano felt as if he touched a warm fabric of silk. "A…atashi… Meiou Seishiro. I… just got here a few minutes ago."
His eyebrow rose, "Oro? A traveler?"
Meiou smiled at him, as she answered, "Well no more like a woman looking for work." She looked around at her sadly, "That's the reason I came here… before these thugs attacked me."
Sano smiled as he turned his direction to the thugs, "Speaking of thugs…" he said as he grabbed one of the thugs on his collar, "I believe you owe this woman some money…"
"And my necklace!" Meiou added, "Give me back my necklace!"
He smiled again as he shook the thief hard enough to rattle his teeth. "You heard her. The money and the necklace. Give it now, or else…"
Sano cracked his knuckles so loud that the thug shook with fear just from the sound of it. He pulled the small bag from his shirt and gave it to Meiou.
"Is everything in there, Meiou? Not a single Yen missing?"
Meiou sighed in relief as she said; "Yes… it's all here."
"Alright." He pulled the thug up the air and said menacingly, "Get the hell out of here, pal. And take your busted up friend with you. Make sure I don't see any of you, or you'll get another serving of a knuckle sandwich."
The thug nodded pathetically as he swallowed. Sano then let go of the thief and he fell to the dirt, scrambling for dear life with his friend who had recovered.
Meiou giggled at the sight of grown men scrambling away and Sano chuckled along with her. "Thugs like those are usually chickens. You shouldn't worry about them." He smiled brightly to Meiou as he bent over and helped her collect her fallen things. "So where are you headed anyway? I'm not so sure if there are any vacancies around here…"
Meiou straightened up as she finished collecting her things and flipped her hair off her shoulder. The gesture was simple and habitual, but it made Sano stare at her like an idiot. " I was going to go to a restaurant called Lenny's. My former manager told me I was going to be shifted there…"
"Ah… tough luck. Lenny's is closed now, and I'm pretty sure that all of the people there had already gone home. You'll have to wait 'til tomorrow morning."
Meiou looked disappointed, "I should have gone earlier. Oh, what am I going to do now…?"
"Nani?"
She looked up at him sadly as she fiddled with her bag, "I… don't have a place to stay. My manager said I was going to board in the restaurant. But since it's closed now, I… don't have a place to stay for today."
Sano's brows furrowed at her problem, "Hai… that is quite a problem…" But he smiled again as he thought of an idea.
"Why don't you stay with a friend of mine, Kamiya Kaoru? Her dojo's quite empty, and I'm sure she'll be glad to help you out. You can sleep there for tonight, and tomorrow morning, I'll take you to Lenny's. Is that okay with you?"
Meiou smiled up at him as the two of them started to walk, "Are… are you sure it's okay? I really don't want to bother anyone…"
Sano thought for a moment before asking, "Can you cook well?"
"Hai… why'd you ask?"
"So that I'll know that you're going to be more of a help than a bother…"
