Don't Say it With Flowers!
By Starhopper
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my sketchbooks and DVDs. Everything else belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki and many other respected businessmen who make RK available to the masses.
First stop on the RK Anniversary drive is our resident fun couple the Fox and the Rooster!
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- Say it With a Fist!
Sano edged his way through the usual market crowd, hands dug deep into his pockets, fish bone clenched between his teeth. This was a man who wished to be known, who refused to let the bitter winds of rumor sweep through his city. He would not stand idle as reputations were ripped apart at the seams, never to be stitched back up again.
Unconsciously he gripped at his right hand with his left in a protective fierceness. This hand had been torn, broken, and busted but it could always be gathered up and put back together. Now rumor threatened the seamstress who continued to patch it up and no one wanted to see an unhappy one-handed Sagara Sanosuke.
His white shirt flared out as he stormed the street, accentuating the menacing build and imposing figure of the ex-fighter-for-hirer, ultimately scattering the townspeople standing in his way in a flock of frightened eyes and apologetic bows. His steps were long and flat-footed, almost caveman like, while he dragged an imaginary club behind him through the dirt. With predatory eyes, he scanned the marketplace for his prey. They were found cowering about a wall, hunched over their dice and yen. Good thing too, he was getting ready to bash their heads in.
One recognized him, even waved him over to join their game. "Oi! Zanza!"
Sano narrowed his already burning eyes. Oh yeah, 'Zanza' would come over there. He had to run to keep up with his fists, which were sent flying across the street.
By the time he had caught up, he had the leader pinned against the wall with his right hand at the merchant's neck, his left fist drawn back to his left earlobe. "You think you're funny, eh?"
Despite the vigorous shaking of the man's head, Sano continued to believe that this guy was the funniest man he had ever had the pleasure of beating senseless. With each punch, Sano relayed a rumor, starting with Takani's ineptness to practice medicine, then escalating in volume and strength as the comments grew to become more biting, and mortally wounding to the woman's pride in her beauty and virtue.
Sano paused with arm back, ready to strike, but he wanted to prolong this man's suffering. "The clinic a Brothel? The Fox a prostitute who lures wounded men inside her den and charges extra for the 'special visits'? Now come on, be serious. Did you honestly think I would let you get away with this?" Sano looked away, a smile on his face, shaking his head. But the moment he turned back to face the gambler's contorted countenance, the smile had wrenched itself into a crazed grin that rivaled those of the Battousai or even Sword-hunter-Cho. Arching a brow, Sano lurched behind his flying fist as it slammed into the man's cheek, knocking out some teeth that he bent to spit out when Sano loosened his grip.
"K'so," Sano held his hand, the red bandage's color deepening as his own blood trickled down from his knuckles. "Now look what ya made me do."
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Cradling his hand against his chest like a wounded wing, Sano stepped through the clinic's open door and looked around. Megumi was with a patient at the moment, but guessing at who that was, (Judging by the sounds of a typical tanuki/kitsune argument) Sano continued on his way into the second examination room on his right. He slid down the wall facing the door to sit with legs drawn up so he could rest his elbows on his knees.
Megumi's pale hand gripped the doorframe as she leaned out the entrance, "Honestly Kaoru, I really don't know what he's going to do with you!"
Sano bit down hard on the fish bone to keep himself from chuckling. This was too easy; she was setting him up without even knowing it. However, despite his efforts, the chuckle escaped as a snicker. That got her attention.
She turned at the sound of his voice, pulling her hair back over her shoulders. "Rooster-head, didn't hear you come in,"
"Didn't," He shifted the fish bone into the other side of his mouth, "want you to,"
She knelt to his left, her eyes shaded by her long bangs. "Let me guess, your," Megumi looked up to find his left hand guiltily shoved before her eyes. "hand." She sighed as she took it in her own hands to examine the damage, unwittingly drawing Sano closer by leaning back to see it in the waning light.
Sano let himself be dragged away from the wall as she pulled him onto the mat beneath the window. He winced as she pinched the flesh together to remove a splinter. "Ya know Fox, this is kinda like our anniversary,"
"Listen Rooster-head," she looked tired before she could admit it. "It's been a long day, what with Kaoru's wittle bump on the head and all, and then Sir Ken came in with a little boy he found on the river bank," she let out a cute, yippy yawn that personified her inner-personality. "Not to mention the fact that I didn't sleep at all last night because of the delivery," Megumi looked him straight in the eye. "I'm tired."
Sano actually gulped at that glare she gave him before returning to his wounds. "I was just saying that it's been about six months since you came here,"
Through her sleepy stupor, Megumi grunted, "So . . . ?"
"Seeing as it's only fittin for a lady like yourself to get one," he leaned forward, putting on his cockiest grin yet, "This is my gift to you."
Without a sound, Megumi let his hand fall through hers to the floor and stood up, her bangs once again shielding the eyes that twitched in frustration. Ignoring the ex-gangster's yelp of pain and consequent glare, she turned for the door, but stopped herself to clench her fists to her sides, furiously attempting to keep her cool, collected act together. Failing miserably, she tossed her head up, staring straight down into his eyes, and screamed, "You just don't get it do you?"
By now the fish bone was hanging on Sano's bottom lip, his jaw fallen through the floor in ninety-nine percent shock and one percent amusement. Six months ago today he had seen her cry like this, looking every bit as vulnerable as a lost kit in the woods as she wept not from the sting of Kanryuu's slap, but from her own inability to cope with the situation. Could this be what she was doing now?
"Get what?" Sano raised himself to his feet, unconsciously rubbing at his sore fist. "I do you a favor and this is the thanks I get?"
"Favor?" The wetness in her eyes evaporated to steaming anger. Her steps shook as she approached him, her left hand drawn over her heart, "You think it's a favor for me to see you hurt?"
Sano shook his head both in disbelief as well as in disappointment. "Well if that's your idea," he let the words slip off his tongue and into the air in a whisper loud enough for her to hear, "then you sure are doing one helluva favor for me now Fox,"
Megumi halted her advance, her deep eyes widening at the depth of his retort.
"Are you hurt now?"
"K'so," Sano spat over his shoulder as he turned his back on her.
The silence that hung in the air divided them with a heavy curtain. As the ex-gangster continued to bore a hole in the wall with his eyes, Megumi leaned against the doorframe, trying to make sense of the emotions boiling beneath her skin. She raised her hand and opened her mouth, but let both fall and lips close with a shake of her head. "How can you say that?"
Sano's slumping shoulders tensed at the cautious tone of her voice, but though his head rose, he refused to let his body twist around see a tentative fox instead of a sly one. "Say what," he muttered around the old fishbone, obviously just as uncomfortable with the silence as she was.
Wrapping her arms about herself, Megumi shuddered. "About an anniversary,"
"Just what I said Fox," he stated matter-of-factly, turning his head slightly so as to give her a profile view of a man crestfallen. He had done something for her out of his own heart and instead of a hearty thank- you, or at the very most a brief hug, he was sitting well apart from her.
She leaned her head against the sturdy wood frame of the doorway and cast her eyes to the buildings of Tokyo that were glowing gold in the premature stages of sunset. Letting her head fall back against the wood with a dejected thud, she hugged herself tighter. "How can it be so?"
Sano's eyes narrowed at her question, and he swiveled around to meet the gaze that was drifting out the window to the city beyond. He rose from the bamboo mat and came to stand in front of the window, staring her down with a look that begged disbelief.
As his eyes connected to hers, the doctor looked away, back to the place Sano had been sitting. "We've been doing this to each other for so long now," she continued, unconsciously taking a step back as if anticipating an advance on his part.
"Six months and three days, if I remember correctly,"
Megumi looked up at him through the shadowed curtain of her bangs, a startled primal look, rounded with fear. He knew that if he took a step she would sprint with the speed of her namesake.
Scratching the back of his neck with his right hand, Sano nodded as if to say "Yeah, that's right, I can count," and tried to give her one of his patented grins. She once again only looked away.
Again, that irritating silence. If it had taken on some sort of tangible form, Sanosuke would have beaten it senseless. They always had words to spar with, but now, when they needed them most, no syllable dared to coalesce on his tongue ready to be thrown in her face. All there was were the distant sounds of people living and the dead air not breathing.
Finally, Megumi moved away from the doorframe and stood with head raised, and eyes open, no longer hiding under the veil of her hair. With a stamp of her foot, she took a breath and asked, "How can you tell me it's our anniversary when there is no 'our', Rooster?"
Sano faltered at this, trying to piece the situation in his mind like an extremely hard puzzle. Setting his eyes to the ground, he worked out his own thoughts internally as she did aloud.
"I don't know if I can take this kind of torture anymore," the good doctor continued, starting to pace in a little circle on her half of the room. "One minute we're arguing and the next it gets so hot that I can barely breathe,"
The ex-gangster remained silent, knowing this little talk had been a long time coming. Since insulting her for the first time to the moment he had held her hand as she threatened to commit suicide, he had known this conversation would be coming. There was only one problem . . . it was happening without him.
"And then there's the rest of our friends, who chastise us for being so blind, but I know I see as clearly as you do Sanosuke,"
That caught his attention. He jerked his head up and bit down hard on the fishbone. "Hold on a minute there Fox," he rocked back on his heels, folding his arms tightly across his chest. "What did you just call me?"
"Who is the better question, Rooster," a small semblance of a smile flickered across her features.
He arched an eyebrow, "Whoa, now I'm confused." And he was.
"Not an unfamiliar thing for you to be," she grunted, returning the brow- arch by jutting her chin out and pursing her lips to a pout. "Answer me this time." She commanded.
"Huh?"
She stomped her foot again and he inwardly jumped. "Answer me, how can there be an anniversary that we share when - " Her courage was draining as the emotional intensity of her question became more and more apparent.
He took a step forward, and to his surprise she didn't spring to her feet and run. His eyes locking onto hers, he moved on, coming to stand before her just as she was stuttering out the question that had broken into several more syllables with his approach.
"When we have nev -"
Sano gripped her arm just below the shoulder with his wounded left hand, and pushed her firmly against the wall. Searching her wide chestnut eyes for any sign of resistance, he whispered "Never - ?"
"Never shown that we deserve an - "
He nodded as her head bent down, bringing his right hand to catch her chin and draw her eyes back up to his.
" - an anniversary." As she breathed the last part, Sano let go of her chin, and rested his free hand flat against the wall by her head, both of their breaths becoming quick and deep with anticipation.
As he leaned in, she lunged forward, her hands shooting up through his hair and clasping together at the back of skull to pull his head down to her.
He let his eyes shut close in delirium, returning the kiss slowly as she backed off. Then it was his turn. Giving her captive arm a sharp squeeze, he was relieved to feel her arms fall from their caress of his head to lie passively at her sides. Bottled emotions exploded at this moment that he felt her understand. Deepening the kiss, he felt her tremble underneath his grip. Fisting his right hand, he slammed it lightly against the space on the wall near her head, frustrated and angry with himself for letting it all wait this long. With her enthusiastic return, he slammed his fist harder and more furiously, his mind spinning at the softness of her lips, the sweetness of her tongue, the heat burning between their chests as she pressed herself closer to him.
Moving his mouth behind her ear, he reveled in the feeling as his name grated deep in her throat, emerging as the primal growl of "Sanosuke," from the lips of one so privileged and proper.
As he pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat, he moaned her name against the skin of her neck and once again felt her tremble. Coming up on the other side of her throat, he whispered, "Is this a better gift?"
She giggled sweetly as gravity got the best of them, pulling her down to the sit on the floor with Sano sitting to her left, his torso stretched over her lap as he continued to convince her that they did indeed deserve an anniversary. "Oh, yes," she hissed as he kissed her at the spot where her jaw connected to her earlobe. "Much better than a fist."
The sun dipped below the horizon just as the word, "Ashiteru" was being whispered into Megumi's ear. And underneath the vastness of cosmic blue velvet unfurling above their heads, both Sagara Sanosuke and Takani Megumi realized how wonderful it was to celebrate their six-month anniversary . . . together.
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Ya like? TELL ME! Please Review!
By Starhopper
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my sketchbooks and DVDs. Everything else belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki and many other respected businessmen who make RK available to the masses.
First stop on the RK Anniversary drive is our resident fun couple the Fox and the Rooster!
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- Say it With a Fist!
Sano edged his way through the usual market crowd, hands dug deep into his pockets, fish bone clenched between his teeth. This was a man who wished to be known, who refused to let the bitter winds of rumor sweep through his city. He would not stand idle as reputations were ripped apart at the seams, never to be stitched back up again.
Unconsciously he gripped at his right hand with his left in a protective fierceness. This hand had been torn, broken, and busted but it could always be gathered up and put back together. Now rumor threatened the seamstress who continued to patch it up and no one wanted to see an unhappy one-handed Sagara Sanosuke.
His white shirt flared out as he stormed the street, accentuating the menacing build and imposing figure of the ex-fighter-for-hirer, ultimately scattering the townspeople standing in his way in a flock of frightened eyes and apologetic bows. His steps were long and flat-footed, almost caveman like, while he dragged an imaginary club behind him through the dirt. With predatory eyes, he scanned the marketplace for his prey. They were found cowering about a wall, hunched over their dice and yen. Good thing too, he was getting ready to bash their heads in.
One recognized him, even waved him over to join their game. "Oi! Zanza!"
Sano narrowed his already burning eyes. Oh yeah, 'Zanza' would come over there. He had to run to keep up with his fists, which were sent flying across the street.
By the time he had caught up, he had the leader pinned against the wall with his right hand at the merchant's neck, his left fist drawn back to his left earlobe. "You think you're funny, eh?"
Despite the vigorous shaking of the man's head, Sano continued to believe that this guy was the funniest man he had ever had the pleasure of beating senseless. With each punch, Sano relayed a rumor, starting with Takani's ineptness to practice medicine, then escalating in volume and strength as the comments grew to become more biting, and mortally wounding to the woman's pride in her beauty and virtue.
Sano paused with arm back, ready to strike, but he wanted to prolong this man's suffering. "The clinic a Brothel? The Fox a prostitute who lures wounded men inside her den and charges extra for the 'special visits'? Now come on, be serious. Did you honestly think I would let you get away with this?" Sano looked away, a smile on his face, shaking his head. But the moment he turned back to face the gambler's contorted countenance, the smile had wrenched itself into a crazed grin that rivaled those of the Battousai or even Sword-hunter-Cho. Arching a brow, Sano lurched behind his flying fist as it slammed into the man's cheek, knocking out some teeth that he bent to spit out when Sano loosened his grip.
"K'so," Sano held his hand, the red bandage's color deepening as his own blood trickled down from his knuckles. "Now look what ya made me do."
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Cradling his hand against his chest like a wounded wing, Sano stepped through the clinic's open door and looked around. Megumi was with a patient at the moment, but guessing at who that was, (Judging by the sounds of a typical tanuki/kitsune argument) Sano continued on his way into the second examination room on his right. He slid down the wall facing the door to sit with legs drawn up so he could rest his elbows on his knees.
Megumi's pale hand gripped the doorframe as she leaned out the entrance, "Honestly Kaoru, I really don't know what he's going to do with you!"
Sano bit down hard on the fish bone to keep himself from chuckling. This was too easy; she was setting him up without even knowing it. However, despite his efforts, the chuckle escaped as a snicker. That got her attention.
She turned at the sound of his voice, pulling her hair back over her shoulders. "Rooster-head, didn't hear you come in,"
"Didn't," He shifted the fish bone into the other side of his mouth, "want you to,"
She knelt to his left, her eyes shaded by her long bangs. "Let me guess, your," Megumi looked up to find his left hand guiltily shoved before her eyes. "hand." She sighed as she took it in her own hands to examine the damage, unwittingly drawing Sano closer by leaning back to see it in the waning light.
Sano let himself be dragged away from the wall as she pulled him onto the mat beneath the window. He winced as she pinched the flesh together to remove a splinter. "Ya know Fox, this is kinda like our anniversary,"
"Listen Rooster-head," she looked tired before she could admit it. "It's been a long day, what with Kaoru's wittle bump on the head and all, and then Sir Ken came in with a little boy he found on the river bank," she let out a cute, yippy yawn that personified her inner-personality. "Not to mention the fact that I didn't sleep at all last night because of the delivery," Megumi looked him straight in the eye. "I'm tired."
Sano actually gulped at that glare she gave him before returning to his wounds. "I was just saying that it's been about six months since you came here,"
Through her sleepy stupor, Megumi grunted, "So . . . ?"
"Seeing as it's only fittin for a lady like yourself to get one," he leaned forward, putting on his cockiest grin yet, "This is my gift to you."
Without a sound, Megumi let his hand fall through hers to the floor and stood up, her bangs once again shielding the eyes that twitched in frustration. Ignoring the ex-gangster's yelp of pain and consequent glare, she turned for the door, but stopped herself to clench her fists to her sides, furiously attempting to keep her cool, collected act together. Failing miserably, she tossed her head up, staring straight down into his eyes, and screamed, "You just don't get it do you?"
By now the fish bone was hanging on Sano's bottom lip, his jaw fallen through the floor in ninety-nine percent shock and one percent amusement. Six months ago today he had seen her cry like this, looking every bit as vulnerable as a lost kit in the woods as she wept not from the sting of Kanryuu's slap, but from her own inability to cope with the situation. Could this be what she was doing now?
"Get what?" Sano raised himself to his feet, unconsciously rubbing at his sore fist. "I do you a favor and this is the thanks I get?"
"Favor?" The wetness in her eyes evaporated to steaming anger. Her steps shook as she approached him, her left hand drawn over her heart, "You think it's a favor for me to see you hurt?"
Sano shook his head both in disbelief as well as in disappointment. "Well if that's your idea," he let the words slip off his tongue and into the air in a whisper loud enough for her to hear, "then you sure are doing one helluva favor for me now Fox,"
Megumi halted her advance, her deep eyes widening at the depth of his retort.
"Are you hurt now?"
"K'so," Sano spat over his shoulder as he turned his back on her.
The silence that hung in the air divided them with a heavy curtain. As the ex-gangster continued to bore a hole in the wall with his eyes, Megumi leaned against the doorframe, trying to make sense of the emotions boiling beneath her skin. She raised her hand and opened her mouth, but let both fall and lips close with a shake of her head. "How can you say that?"
Sano's slumping shoulders tensed at the cautious tone of her voice, but though his head rose, he refused to let his body twist around see a tentative fox instead of a sly one. "Say what," he muttered around the old fishbone, obviously just as uncomfortable with the silence as she was.
Wrapping her arms about herself, Megumi shuddered. "About an anniversary,"
"Just what I said Fox," he stated matter-of-factly, turning his head slightly so as to give her a profile view of a man crestfallen. He had done something for her out of his own heart and instead of a hearty thank- you, or at the very most a brief hug, he was sitting well apart from her.
She leaned her head against the sturdy wood frame of the doorway and cast her eyes to the buildings of Tokyo that were glowing gold in the premature stages of sunset. Letting her head fall back against the wood with a dejected thud, she hugged herself tighter. "How can it be so?"
Sano's eyes narrowed at her question, and he swiveled around to meet the gaze that was drifting out the window to the city beyond. He rose from the bamboo mat and came to stand in front of the window, staring her down with a look that begged disbelief.
As his eyes connected to hers, the doctor looked away, back to the place Sano had been sitting. "We've been doing this to each other for so long now," she continued, unconsciously taking a step back as if anticipating an advance on his part.
"Six months and three days, if I remember correctly,"
Megumi looked up at him through the shadowed curtain of her bangs, a startled primal look, rounded with fear. He knew that if he took a step she would sprint with the speed of her namesake.
Scratching the back of his neck with his right hand, Sano nodded as if to say "Yeah, that's right, I can count," and tried to give her one of his patented grins. She once again only looked away.
Again, that irritating silence. If it had taken on some sort of tangible form, Sanosuke would have beaten it senseless. They always had words to spar with, but now, when they needed them most, no syllable dared to coalesce on his tongue ready to be thrown in her face. All there was were the distant sounds of people living and the dead air not breathing.
Finally, Megumi moved away from the doorframe and stood with head raised, and eyes open, no longer hiding under the veil of her hair. With a stamp of her foot, she took a breath and asked, "How can you tell me it's our anniversary when there is no 'our', Rooster?"
Sano faltered at this, trying to piece the situation in his mind like an extremely hard puzzle. Setting his eyes to the ground, he worked out his own thoughts internally as she did aloud.
"I don't know if I can take this kind of torture anymore," the good doctor continued, starting to pace in a little circle on her half of the room. "One minute we're arguing and the next it gets so hot that I can barely breathe,"
The ex-gangster remained silent, knowing this little talk had been a long time coming. Since insulting her for the first time to the moment he had held her hand as she threatened to commit suicide, he had known this conversation would be coming. There was only one problem . . . it was happening without him.
"And then there's the rest of our friends, who chastise us for being so blind, but I know I see as clearly as you do Sanosuke,"
That caught his attention. He jerked his head up and bit down hard on the fishbone. "Hold on a minute there Fox," he rocked back on his heels, folding his arms tightly across his chest. "What did you just call me?"
"Who is the better question, Rooster," a small semblance of a smile flickered across her features.
He arched an eyebrow, "Whoa, now I'm confused." And he was.
"Not an unfamiliar thing for you to be," she grunted, returning the brow- arch by jutting her chin out and pursing her lips to a pout. "Answer me this time." She commanded.
"Huh?"
She stomped her foot again and he inwardly jumped. "Answer me, how can there be an anniversary that we share when - " Her courage was draining as the emotional intensity of her question became more and more apparent.
He took a step forward, and to his surprise she didn't spring to her feet and run. His eyes locking onto hers, he moved on, coming to stand before her just as she was stuttering out the question that had broken into several more syllables with his approach.
"When we have nev -"
Sano gripped her arm just below the shoulder with his wounded left hand, and pushed her firmly against the wall. Searching her wide chestnut eyes for any sign of resistance, he whispered "Never - ?"
"Never shown that we deserve an - "
He nodded as her head bent down, bringing his right hand to catch her chin and draw her eyes back up to his.
" - an anniversary." As she breathed the last part, Sano let go of her chin, and rested his free hand flat against the wall by her head, both of their breaths becoming quick and deep with anticipation.
As he leaned in, she lunged forward, her hands shooting up through his hair and clasping together at the back of skull to pull his head down to her.
He let his eyes shut close in delirium, returning the kiss slowly as she backed off. Then it was his turn. Giving her captive arm a sharp squeeze, he was relieved to feel her arms fall from their caress of his head to lie passively at her sides. Bottled emotions exploded at this moment that he felt her understand. Deepening the kiss, he felt her tremble underneath his grip. Fisting his right hand, he slammed it lightly against the space on the wall near her head, frustrated and angry with himself for letting it all wait this long. With her enthusiastic return, he slammed his fist harder and more furiously, his mind spinning at the softness of her lips, the sweetness of her tongue, the heat burning between their chests as she pressed herself closer to him.
Moving his mouth behind her ear, he reveled in the feeling as his name grated deep in her throat, emerging as the primal growl of "Sanosuke," from the lips of one so privileged and proper.
As he pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat, he moaned her name against the skin of her neck and once again felt her tremble. Coming up on the other side of her throat, he whispered, "Is this a better gift?"
She giggled sweetly as gravity got the best of them, pulling her down to the sit on the floor with Sano sitting to her left, his torso stretched over her lap as he continued to convince her that they did indeed deserve an anniversary. "Oh, yes," she hissed as he kissed her at the spot where her jaw connected to her earlobe. "Much better than a fist."
The sun dipped below the horizon just as the word, "Ashiteru" was being whispered into Megumi's ear. And underneath the vastness of cosmic blue velvet unfurling above their heads, both Sagara Sanosuke and Takani Megumi realized how wonderful it was to celebrate their six-month anniversary . . . together.
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Ya like? TELL ME! Please Review!