In the End I was With You
"You mean nothing to me." The words echo across my memories, a half-remembered curse. I distantly remember grasping at his hand, and him pulling away leaving me sobbing in the middle of the street. We met again, of course, many times. Each time he became my enemy just a little bit more. Eventually reports began flowing in. The rumor was that he had joined an enemy clan and was attacking our allies. Of course, soon the reports were confirmed by the calls for assistance that began pouring in. We responded, and naturally, I was dragged along for the ride, rather unwillingly. But what would you expect? I am the best medic they have.
In the hustle and bustle of battle, with me flitting back and forth from wounded to wounded like some hyperactive butterfly, I barely noticed who I was treating, let alone who was near me. So it came as rather a shock when I heard a grunt of pain from behind me, and I whirled around to find him standing over the body of a dead guard. I swallowed nervously and replied in a voice that barely shook,
"Sano. Long time no see."
Now I suppose I should add a little bit of background information (and I know you probably hate me for putting this right in a moment of high tension). My name is Takani Megumi. Yes of the Takani clan. I'm sure you've heard of it. If not, then you must have been living under a rock or at the bottom of a mine for the past couple of years. My parents, aunts, uncles, and twice-removed cousins have been building up an empire of mercenaries, politicians, and fast food chains. We are, as a whole, an extremely powerful family, and to cross us, you must be crazy. Everyone was our friend, everyone wanted our power, everyone loved us. Every bond in the clan was forged of iron.
That being said, I was never particularly close to any of my family except my great uncle Jerry, a half-crazy relic who loved me dearly and taught me everything I know about medicine. I found my father too controlling, my mother too weak, my brother too stuck up. I wasn't too fond of them, and they weren't too fond of me, but I didn't care much. I had Uncle Jerry, so I won. However, Uncle Jerry, being my great uncle and rather old, eventually died, and so I was left with my family who was no happier to see me then I was to see them.
Of course, this all should have probably been put at the beginning of this narrative, but I'm a rebel and I don't like following rules. I guess that's what got me into trouble in the first place. It all started a long time ago in a little park in Tokyo.
This was where Sanosuke and I first met. Well, maybe "met" is a little bit too... calm of a word for it. Our first encounter was anything but calm. In fact, it was rather explosive. There was only one swing left and two of us. So we did what any other small child in this situation would: we raced each other to it. He got there first, but I punched him in the stomach and he fell off the swing. I flung myself into it, but waited to see how he would react before I started swinging. He stared up at me open mouthed for a second, and then stuck out a pudgy hand and said, "My name's Sano! What's yours?" Ah, the joys of childhood. Of course, this was followed by a forced apology from me, propitiated by my mother, but neither of us cared about such insignificant things. We spent the rest of the day in the sandbox throwing sand in each other's faces. After he got sand in his mouth, Sano decided that from now on my nickname was to be "vixen" or maybe "fox" if he was in a bad mood. However, this managed to turn into a form of endearment, because I was his fox, and that made it all better.
We were best friends. We were inseparable. Wherever I went, he went, and vice versa. None of my family liked him, they all thought he was a trouble maker, and I suppose they were right, for he got into more trouble in one week then most kids got in all year. And I, his living shadow, was usually dragged into it. From fist fights, to toilet papering people's yards, we did it all. I was actually banned from seeing him after I came home with a black eye, but shortly thereafter I snuck out. My family despaired over me, their rebel child. My aunts were afraid that their own well-behaved children would be "sucked in" by my rambunctious behavior. I didn't care.
All through middle school, I was the one with the best grades: the smart one. With that label, however, came the great, and rather fruitless, job of tutoring Sano, who was defiantly at the bottom of the food chain in such things. I taught, we talked, we laughed, and he tried to copy my homework. Every time that happened he was hit over the head with my ruler, or my pencil, or any other blunt object within easy reach. We continued on through middle school, happy and mindless of danger. We spent every spare moment of time together, switched classes without the teacher's permission so as not to be separated, ate lunch together. Even before we were old enough to think about boyfriends and girlfriends, we were considered a package deal. To get one, you had to deal with the other. This changed, as most things do, when we entered high school. We drifted apart, something neither of us expected. I tried to fill the ache that Sano left in my heart with boyfriend after boyfriend after boyfriend. Sano's grades sunk to an all time low and he started ditching classes half way through freshman year. It was only later that I found out what happened, and to this day I wish I had realized sooner that he had changed allegiances. But I was a girl with a new boyfriend, and I was far too busy hanging on his arm to notice what my "best friend" was doing.
The first time I officially noticed that anything was wrong was in the third quarter of my junior year. I was already in a bad mood because I had been forced into one of the Sano-tutoring sessions that I had been trying to ditch in order to spend more time with my current boyfriend. I entered the house in a huff, only to find Sano yelling at a women I took to be his mother. It was the first time I had seen him this close in a very long time. He was more muscular and had gained a few tattoos, which I realized later were the symbols from one of our enemy clans. I stood frozen by the door as he stormed out of it and watched numbly as his mother dissolved into tears.
The next day he left the village. I intercepted him just before the gates.
"Where are you going?" I questioned, stopping him with a hand on his arm. He jerked away from me and continued walking. "Sano, what's wrong?" I gripped his arm harder this time. He threw my hand off again.
"I'm leaving."
"Leaving? For where?"
"Any place but here."
"What?"
"I'm joining the Soyanwo."
I felt my mouth drop open in utter disbelief. "What?!" I gasped.
"You heard me."
"Look, Sano, I don't particularly care if they're our enemies, but this is a life time deal. I won't be able to see you any more!"
"How will that be any different from the past three years? You never talk to me anyway. G'bye, fox."
"Wait! Sano!" My hands flew out to his arm again. "Why..." I choked out. All the feelings I had repressed for him, the feelings I had tried to bury with all the long, long parade of boyfriends rushed to the surface. "Wait! I love you! I'll do anything! Just please don't leave me!"
He shook my hands off roughly, this time throwing me to the ground.
"You mean nothing to me."
I didn't try to get up. I just sat there, my hand extended to him as he ran out the gate. Running from his old life, his town, his family... and me.
"Hn." was his only response as he sheathed his sword and stepped closer to me. "Hello again, fox."
I frowned at the old nickname. "What do you want?" I questioned, backing away, only to find that there was a rock behind me. He kept advancing, until he was only a few inches from me, and he wound a strand of my raven tinted hair around one of his fingers.
"Do you remember back when you pledged undying love for me?"
"I think undying love is a bit of a strong word," I said, hoping my emotions weren't coming out on my face. No. Don't do this to me, Sano. I love you too much to hurt you. All he did was smirk. Then he did the unexpected by wrapping his arms around me.
"Well, I hope it's still there, 'cause I love you too, vixen."
I froze. What should I do? My treacherous, oh so treacherous arms betrayed me and wrapped around him. "I never stopped."
"Neither did I." My eyes met his, and I saw his hand going back and gripping the hilt of his sword. I saw him unsheathe it, and I did nothing to stop it. I knew what was coming, and I had no problem with it. The slim blade burying itself in my abdomen, and by extension his, for he had driven it through us both, came as no surprise. A slight gasp of pain came from both of us. I didn't ask why he had done it, I already knew. I stared up at him as he kissed me lightly, then his knees gave out and dragged us both down. I noted the puddle of crimson blood pooling itself around us. Two bloods becoming one, just as the sword joined us. The ghost of a smile graced his lips as he starred up at me.
"Sorry, vixen."
"That's the way it goes." I whispered, it hurt to talk. "I still love you, baka*." If this is the only way we can be together, so be it…
He closed his eyes one last time and whispered, "In the end, I'm glad I was with you."
His chest stopped rising and falling, and mine followed soon after.
A/N: This is actually something I wrote for English class, but I had already stolen the characters from Kenshin, and I love that anime to death… So, yeah. Sad, totally AU… But it was a lot of fun to write. Defiantly fun. So yeah… Tell me if you hated it, please!
-Amagake