No, I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. I wish I did, but I don't, so don't ask and don't sue. I don't have any money anyway.

The hangover

Sanosuke woke up hung over. 'Damn,' he thought, 'why'd I drink so much?' He thought through a pounding headache back to last night. 'Oh yeah, a bachelor party for my friend. Well, no one's sleeping next to me so it's okay,' he reasoned. He took a look around the room. 'At least I passed out at Kaoru's.' He got up and went outside.

"Yahiko! You brat! Get back here!" Kaoru yelled while chasing Yahiko with a bokken.

"Just try and catch me 'busu'!" Yahiko yelled back.

"OI!" yelled Sano. "I've got a hangover, so if you wouldn't mind keepin' it down a little..." Kaoru and Yahiko stopped in their tracks, just noticing Sanosuke was there.

"Well maybe you shouldn't party so often! If you get hungover then just don't drink!" Kaoru scolded turning her anger on Sano.

"I'm leaving." Sano said, not wanting his headache to get worse. He might as well see if a friend had another inking for sale, so he made his way to the market.

Kenshin was down another road, happily running errands for Kaoru.

Sanosuke went through the crowded market place with ease. No one even pretended not to be afraid of him anymore. Sano smiled as he walked down the road. He turned to the shop with his friend's paintings. He was shopping with no intentions of buying, as usual. The storekeepers knew this too, but were in no hurry to rush him out for paying costumers. A few new pictures were there, but nothing special… A young black haired boy bumped into Sano. "Sorry," he mumbled, but was caught by the wrist of a very pissed off Sanosuke.

"Hey! That's mine, you know," he said eyeing the wallet in the boy's hand. The 16-year-old boy, however, didn't seem to hear him, struggled free, and ran off. Sano cursed under his breath and took off after him.

Kenshin was done with the errands and was walking home cheerfully. He stopped suddenly to let a boy run by. 'That was close' he thought. He took another step and was run over by a very pissed, hungover Sanosuke. "Orororo".

'Almost got him. He's fast, but I'll catch him before the bridge,' thought Sano. He leapt out into the air and tackled the thief from behind. "AH!" he heard the boy cry out in surprise. He held the boy around the chest and waist so he couldn't get away. Then he felt it. 'Wait… guys aren't squishy on the chest…' That thought was followed by a hard and well-deserved smack. He held the kid by the wrist about arm's length from him, looked at her, and decided he would deal with that later. "You know… there's nothing in that wallet, so you can drop it. Besides, even if you are a girl, I've got a hangover, so who knows what I'll do. I'm very pissed off right now." She did as she was told, and the instant she dropped it she was dropped herself.

"So," the young teen said, "you gonna turn me in or what?"

"Why would I do that? What good will come from it? Besides I want to hear your story," Sano said calmly. The girl eyed him carefully. "Come on. You have to be desperate to steal something from a guy with an 'aku' on his back," he explained.

With a deep sigh, she said, "Well, if you must know… My name is Meriko. I'm stealing because I need the money to pay the doctors."

"You're sick? You seem healthy to me," Sano said in a confused tone.

"Not me, you dolt. My little sister! Well... sorta. She's not really my sister, but I've taken care of her for so long, I feel like we're sisters. Anyway, if you aren't going to turn me in, I'll be on my way." Meriko got up to leave.

"Where is she?" he asked. She stopped in her tracks.

"Why do you care?" she snapped back.

"Because I can help you with your problem. I just need you to bring me to her." She eyed him suspiciously. "I ain't gonna hurt you or your sister. Do you want to save her or not?" This didn't seem to comfort her, but her expression softened.

"Follow me," she said as she started down the road.

'Damn,' Sano thought as he walked after her, 'this has already been a long day, and I haven't been up for an hour! Goddamn hangover…'

It only took an hour to get to the Meriko's house…if you could call it that. It was very run-down, and looked like it would collapse at any moment. "Here it is," Meriko said. Sano noted she didn't seem ashamed of the house. They went inside and it didn't look any better. It looked like it was as clean as possible, but there was no hope to restore it to the house it had been before. It was a one-room house, and the only part that didn't look like it leaked from the roof was a small bed where a small girl lay shivering in the hot summer air. Every now and then, she would cough.

"I'll have to carry her back to town," Sanosuke said as he moved towards the bed. Meriko jumped at this.

"You're taking her to a doctor! I told you, I can't afford it!" she said as she moved in front of him.

Sano rolled his eyes and pushed her out of the way. "Look Jo-chan, I know what I'm doin' okay? I'm hungover, so no more yelling."

The entire way back was walked in silence except for the small girl in Sano's arms, who would cough occasionally. They made it back to town and went straight to Megumi's clinic. "OI! Megumi! Get over here!" Sano yelled pushing the door open with his foot.

"This is a hospital!" Megumi said in a hushed tone as she turned the corner. "No yell-," she noticed the bundle in Sanosuke's arms. "What's wrong?" she asked as she led them into the nearest room and set her down.

"We were hoping you could tell us that," Sanosuke said, and then explained the story.

"Hmm…" Megumi said, "Both of you leave the room. I need to work on this without distractions."

Both of them left the room and sat down. There was a long silence. Then Sano said, "So… What's your story? Do you want to share it?"

"I don't mind, but it's not something I'm proud of," she said looking off into space. "It started," she began, "on the day I found my sister, Miki…"

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So, did you like it? I know it sounds like Yahiko's story, but bear with me! Please? It gets better. It's my first fan-fic, so be kind when you R&R. … You are going to R&R, right? Right?

Special thanx to my sister. My own personal beta-reader. Thank you Tory! She also goes by Sylvia Viridian online, and has fics posted on the site, so go read them! Or I'll sic Sano on you… D

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