Cold Rain.

Written by Larissa Hyuga.

November 2004.

Disclaimer: I don't own any right over Ruroni Kenshin or any of its characters.

Prologue: Ordinary day.

XxX

Six thirty a.m.. The alarm clock was ringing loud and a twenty-three –year-old woman opened one eye. Annoyed, she turned to the other side and saw the red number. Her hand stretched and reached out to it. Then, it was silence. She almost yielded to temptation and stood more time in bed but she knew she couldn't.

Megumi Takani lazily left her bed. The day was not bright outside and it wasn't warm either. She felt the rather cold air touch her bare skin and she shivered. She left her room and crossed the hallway to the small white bathroom. Closing the door and turning on the shower would make her feel warmer. The woman closed her eyes and let the water flow on her long black hair and soak her body. It was a great attempt to chase sleep away.

When she emerged into the kitchen, sleep had partially given up its efforts on taking her back to bed. Wrapped in a comfortable white bathrobe, the young woman opened a cupboard and took some rye bread out of a package and placed it on a plate. Then, she turned herself to the fridge and got cheese and a glass of orange juice. That was her breakfast on that chilly autumn morning.

It was seven o'clock and she needed to hurry not to be late for classes. The young woman was at her last year at university. Her graduation would take place before the second half of December. She dressed a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt and put a red sweater over it. Then, in a hurry, she put on a pair of black shoes and run to the living room. There, she caught her bag and a couple of books.

Megumi entered the lift and looked at herself reflected on the mirror. She was putting her lipstick, the thing she had forgotten doing at home. When the lift door opened and she left, she could not see she almost knocked her neighbor down.

"Good morning, Megumi!" a cheerful young woman said to her.

Distractedly, Megumi turned her head to compliment the other woman.

"Oh, good morning, Kaoru!"

The other woman was carrying big packages. She had just arrived from the market.

"Rushing to college, uh?"

Megumi continued walking, a timid smile on her face.

"Yes... have a nice day, Kaoru. Bye!"

She waved at the other woman and she replied the same way.

The subway station was one block ahead. It was seven fifteen when Megumi entered the subway. She sat on the benches and looked discretely at some people who were also going to work or going to university. A man caught her attention. He was sat almost in front of her, his eyes were closed. He had a beautiful shinny black hair with bangs that were veiling his eyes. His features were fine and attractive. Megumi found herself examining the man and by his legs, she concluded he was very tall. He was dressed in black except for a beige trench coat over his suit. And, that time, she thought men in trench coats ruled.

Trying not to stare too much, Megumi took her eyes from him and laid it on a small case that was by his side. She wondered if it belonged to him or to the hyper active teenager who was sat by his side. The young girl was babbling with a classmate from school, both of them dressed in uniforms. Suddenly, she found out she could feel nothing but amusement. The young man had opened his eyes and eyed her for a second. Her heart jumped and she felt something warm inside her. Megumi also felt the same warmth going to her cheeks. Yes, she was blushing desperately. Strangely enough, she didn't remember the last time a man made her blush so hard. But that young man had something into his eyes. They were blue. But it was no ordinary shade of blue. They were mysterious, piercing, cold and enchanting.

Taking her out of her amusement, the stranger stood up and grabbed the case. Now she could know it didn't belong to the babbling girl beside him. The subway slowed down and the doors opened. The handsome man leaped out of it and she saw him walking out of the platform. And it was all. She felt something inside of her. It was weird but she felt strangely attracted by that strange handsome man. She wanted to look at his eyes again. And chances were she'd never meet him again of all people in that big city.

Soon, it was her stop. Megumi got out of the subway and all she had to do was to cross the streets and go into the university fields. It was seven thirty sharp and her classmates were already into the classroom, she actually had to run and go past her teacher before he could enter the room.

She sat on the desk and tried to follow the teacher speech. But her head started aching, reflecting the past night. Her eyes were also getting filled with tears due to lack of sleep. And soon, Megumi realized she could not concentrate. All she had to do was to wait to midday.

XxX

Time didn't seem to be willing to pass. But it was midday and Megumi walked on the hallways, headed to the restaurant. She sat alone on a table and started chewing her lunch when a tall figure came out of the blue and placed himself in front of her.

"Hello, Megitsune." The young man grinned.

Megumi didn't need to look up to see who was that.

"Hey, roosterhead."

The other man pulled a chair and sat across her.

"Having a bad day?"

"Nope. It's just an ordinary day."

The man sat across her was a handsome one. He was not studying medicine like her. He was a kendo master among other fighting styles. Sanosuke Sagara was the kendo teacher on the neighbor school.

Megumi was mixing her juice with the straw, avoiding Sanosuke's eyes.

"What's up, fox? I know you enough to know you're not ok. "

"You didn't show up yesterday."

The young man slapped his own forehead.

"Gosh! I am sorry! How could I forget?"

Megumi looked at him.

"No problem. I had fun without you."

Sanosuke pretended to mope.

"This is not something to be said, fox. It hurts people."

She smiled. Her smile made his features soften and he also grinned back at her.

"It was nice. I arrive home three in the morning."

Sanosuke's eyes widened.

"Really? So that's the reason for such face, uh? I bet you have a hellish hangover."

She laughed. It was impossible to be serious with Sanosuke around.

"Well... kind of..."

He just focused his brown eyes on her and kept the smile on his lips. She continued eating and soon she was over.

"I have to go, Sano. Today's is my day there at the practice."

She stood up and took her bag and books. He also stood up and accompanied her out of the university and walked her some meters to the hospital.

It was a cold beginning of an afternoon. The day was gray and yellow.

"Poor fox. Spending her whole day after party here at the hospital... tsk tsk..." he teased.

She looked at him and laughed once again.

"Come on... I am leaving at seven pm... it could be worse... well, on Friday it is actually going to be worse..."

"You're staying over night on Friday?" he widened his eyes although he knew he should be pretty used to that.

She nodded. The wind was blowing strong and she fought the strands of hair that were coming to her face.

"Gosh." He made a face.

"Bye, Sano." She gracefully smiled at him.

"Byez." He said in a rather sad way.

The young woman entered the hospital and the brown-haired man followed his way to the school. He had classes starting in fifteen minutes.

XxX

Small beginning. Well, there's not much to be picked up from here now, uh? But next chapter, something nice is going to happen.

I had the idea for this fic yesterday night. I just must study but I figured out I could not if I didn't sit and write this first... for my grades' sake... I have 3 fics going on now... one is still unwritten.

Oh, I will not abandon Until The Dark. I just can't. It's my first baby, you know.