My Love, With or Without You
Chapter 3
[I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or any of its affiliates.
But my God the things I would do to that Red Head...]
An incessant ring at the door nearly brought Megumi to tears. Her tired eyes slowly drifted to the clock posted on her side of the bed as the numbers in a red cheery annoyingness told her that it was only eight in the morning. Because obviously to anyone but her and her sleeping partner it was a time that meant 'hello! Open the door! It's time to greet the morning!' Megumi was going to have none of that. Spread out against the bed leaving only inches for Sanouske, she brought back in her arms and legs and slapped her jowls together.
"Darling rooster, if you do not answer that door in the next nano-second, I will have to force you out to sleep on the couch for an entire week."
No response from Sanouske Sagara, her loving fiancée, pissed her off more. She lifted her ratted black tresses from the endless thread count pillow and glared at her bedroom door. She peered down at Sanouske whose head was covered by a pillow and mischievously snuggled against his back.
"Just ignore it, they'll go away..." half asleep still, Sanouske managed to mumble under the pillow and move closer to the middle of the bed, scooting Megumi with him. "Besides, you can't go that long without sex."
"Who said I was going to?" With all of her might and strength she could muster, Megumi shot out all her limbs, successfully sending Sanouske sailing off the bed, falling to the floor, and rolling into their night stand facing his side of the bed. A squawk of pain erupted from the roosters lungs, as the fox chuckled to herself. Megumi fished for her silk robe at the end of the bed and slid the cool fabric over her bare body, tying a bow quickly all while scurrying to the door to relieve her poor scrambles ears, fanning out her hair and coming her fingers through it on the way.
"I swear to the ever loving power above if you do not stop ringing that damn bell!" She swung the door open in a small fit of rage and caught her words in her throat.
"Ah, sorry Miss Megumi. Given your recent activities with your soon to be husband, I wasn't sure you could hear the bell, that I wasn't."
"Ah, Kenshin... No, no, it's okay. We were just sleeping. Like normal people do at eight in the morning... Um. What are you doing here? I thought you were coming tomorrow..." Megumi looked him over and saw that he was in no immediate danger... Just that he came with three suitcases; one in each hand, and an extra one under his left arm. Kenshin stepped around Megumi and awkwardly stood in the middle of the family room.
"Ah, I'm sorry, that I am. I didn't think you would mind me arriving one day earlier. I thought I could help you with some of the wedding burden."
"Mmhm." Megumi slowly closed her door and folded her arms in front of her, tucking her dark hair behind her relieved ear. "Right. Couldn't wait to get away from that lovely woman of yours, could you?" Her remark plaid softly on her lips, just loud enough for Kenshin to catch wind.
"Oh, Miss Megumi, you mustn't talk like that. She is really a nice woman. I just thought I would surprise my two best friends that I did."
"Oh please. You visit us once a week just to see how were doing, which for you is a three hour flight. And you drag along that wrenched girl. With her smiles all around and her hidden agendas. I know what she's about, Kenshin. She's got her talons hooked in you. Know how I know? Been with her for nine years, nine years! And still she has no ring on her finger!"
"Please, Miss Megumi, she's not as bad as you say." Kenshin placed his bags swiftly on the ground. "And she certainly doesn't have a hidden agenda as you say." Kenshin held up his hands in defense and let out a light hearted chuckle.
"I bet Kaoru would say different." Megumi again breathed and lifted her head up as if to judge. Kenshin shot her a quick glance.
"Miss Kaoru has nothing to do with any of this. I haven't seen the girl in ten years, that I haven't. I wish you would stop pestering me on that matter, that I would."
"Whatever." Megumi rolled her eyes and motioned to his suitcases. "How long do you plan on staying anyways? I thought you were going to grab a hotel."
"Ah, just three weeks. Not too long." Again Kenshin let out a lighthearted chuckle as his hand rested in the back of his red mane.
Megumi's sudden realization made her freeze in her tracks. Her eyes widened and she slowly engulfed her lips. Kaoru...
"Kenshin!" Sanouske bellowed a delighted welcome and moved across the room to envelope Kenshin in a bear hug. "You're here! SO early... Just like ya, eh? Are you ready to take on all the Best Man duties?" Sanouske let out a hearty laugh at the thought of Kenshin forming a bachelor party.
A small inward sigh from Kenshin. "You bet, Sano. I can't wait, that I cannot. Ah... Miss Megumi, are you alright?" Kenshin and Sanouske turned their attention to a frozen in stance Megumi, who's eyes seemed to glaze over as cogs in her mind quickly worked.
"Yeah... Sano, dear, can I talk to you?" Megumi grabbed Sanouske's arm and dragged him to the bedroom.
"I hardly think that is the time, Megumi, we have company!"
"Shut up you big fool! Kaoru is supposed to be coming today! We can't let her see that Kenshin's here! And I though he was supposed to be renting a hotel, not stay here! We can't let Kenshin know either! You bring Kaoru within an inch of this house and he'll sense her with his weird sensing thing!" Megumi quickly hissed through her teeth.
"Oh yeah... I didn't think of that. Well, their bound to see each other at one point in time, I mean as big as our house is, we can't really hide Kaoru from Kenshin, or Kenshin from Kaoru for that matter."
"What are we going to do?"
"Eh. Fuck it. Just let 'em meet again."
Megumi smacked Sanouske in the chest. "We need a better plan than that you idiot!"
"Well, I got nothin'. You're the fox. I'm just a rooster, remember?"
Megumi glared at her thick brained counterpart and stormed out of the room and into Kenshin. She blinked and cocked her head slightly to the side. "Can I help you, Kenshin?"
"Ah, yes I was hoping that you could show me to my room, that I was."
"Oh. We have no time for that now. We have too many um... Wedding things that we need to go over, you and I."
"Me? I thought Sanouske is supposed to be helping you."
"Him? Ha! He doesn't know the difference between green-yellow and yellow-green!" She began to walk to the other room which she called her 'planning room' that was filled wall to wall with nothing but wedding gear and paraphernalia.
"Megumi?"
"Yes, Kenshin?" Megumi stopped in her tracks.
"Miss Kaoru isn't coming, is she?"
Megumi swallowed hard and started to walk slowly back to her couch. Kenshin watched her cautiously as Megumi began to form her string of beginning lies. Sanouske leaned against the doorway waiting to see what happened. Megumi perched on the edge of the couch arm, one foot dangling down and the other tucked under her bottom. She slyly hid her smile and leaned her chin into her outstretched fingers.
"No, of course not... Her boss wouldn't let her take off work for one of the only events that would get Kaoru out of her house that she so dearly tries to coop herself up in. And she complained that it was too far away despite Sano's and my efforts to tell her we would take care of it... If you ask me she was acting like a sick puppy! I feel so sorry for her." She glanced at Sanouske, then back at Kenshin to watch his conflicted battle of pain and relief. "It's almost like she can't get over something. She just seems so unbearably sad..."
Kenshin looked away from Megumi. He knew what she was trying to do. He knew what she was hinting at. He just wished he could shake her and tell her everything. He wished that he could tell her that he had no choice. That if he did, he would have never even for a moment have left Kaoru's side. He had to. There was no way around it... He didn't want...He shook his head absently.
"It's been ten years, Miss Megumi. You still accuse me like as if I left her at the alter to never talk to her again. Can we please get past this subject? What's done is done. I did what I had to do, and even now I do not believe that Miss Kaoru would like to ever see me again." Hopefully, he had to make sure of that.
"You're wrong Kenshin. She still pains for you." Sanouske took to Megumi's side and placed a hand on her shoulder for support. "She can't get over you, man. You burned her bad."
Megumi snorted. "She hates you." She bluntly scolded. "You might as well of put a ring on her finger then chopped it off for good measure." Megumi gently glared at Kenshin to watch his reaction. He simply bowed his head. The pain in his chest was beginning to rise again, like it did every night he watched a full moon without her. It felt like someone had smashed through his chest... Apparently that hadn't mattered. Kaoru hated him. He had done his job. The trio simply inhabited the room, stumbling over what to say next.
"So!" Megumi clapped her hands together a moment later. "Kenshin! I have all of our plans to show you for the wedding! The rehearsal dinner is only 5 days away, you know. And as the best man, you must know your stuff." Megumi lifted off the couch and swooped her arms around Kenshin's shoulder, guiding him into the next room.
Sanouske chuckled at his soon to be wife as she dragged Kenshin into the hell he had been going through himself for the past year of obsessive planning. Who knew there was so much to weddings? As far as he was concerned you have rings, booze and dancing! But against his will, he learned the difference between lace and a doily for Megumi. Love was a funny dangerous thing. Suddenly his phone chimed in the bedroom. Rushing to get it, Sanouske saw Kaoru's name scroll across the screen.
"Ah shit... Hello?" Sanouske whispered into the phone.
"Sano? Hey. Why are you whispering?"
"Whispering? Ah, yeah, uh... Megumi's still sleeping."
"Really? What a bum! Well, I just wanted to let you know that my plane just landed, but it'll be another hour before I get out of here thought."
"What? You're here already? Great. Shit. Um. Yeah, okay, I'll be there to pick you up!" Clipping the phone shut Sanouske grunted and rubbed his temples with one hand. What was he going to do now? They were supposed to ease the two together. Not just pop in like nothing ever happened. All hell would break loose! He trekked his way into the planning room.
"Megumi, I'm ah going to grab breakfast. I'll be right back..."
Megumi's eyes widened as Sanouske turned on his heel. Suddenly a fit of sobbing and paper tearing and yelling were heard as Sanouske quickly shut the door.
"WRONG! It's all WRONG! This seating chart is RUINED!" Megumi put on a show tearing the rather large chart into pieces, and actually crying as she watched all her hard work being torn up before her eyes. "Disaster!" Megumi slumped against Kenshin who was taken aback by the sudden outburst.
"Mi-Miss Megumi? Ar-are you okay?"
"No! Everything is wrong! We have to do the chart over!" She sobbed into his chest.
"Ah, okay, I will help you, that I will."
"Great!" Suddenly finding a new pep in her step Megumi turned on her heel facing her bedroom. "I'll get dressed and we can head to the library. We need all the help we can get!" Kenshin slumped over in his stance, wondering what he was just dragged into.
xxx
The warm Nevada air hit Kaoru's face in delight. The dry wind kicked up her hair sending shivers of a new life through her pores. Exactly what I needed. For the first time in a long time, Kaoru smiled, and beamed at the hot desert sun. She stood at the monorail terminal letting her pale skin soak up the sunlight. Moments later she was picking up her bags at the check-in, and simultaneously dropping them to give Sanouske a big hug.
"Welcome to the city that never sleeps, Kaoru. It's nice to have you here."
"Actually, it's nice to be out of my house for once. To have a change of scenery. Fell a nice warm sun now and again. Why didn't you have me visit sooner? "
"Ah, because you literally would get physically sick if we tried to take you out of your house for something other than work." Sanouske raised his eyebrows and jammed his hands in his pockets.
"Oh, right." Kaoru giggled briefly and picked her bags up, following Sanouske's footsteps to his car.
"So what have you been up to Kaoru? You seem happier all of a sudden. Should he have gotten you two tickets?" He nudged her playfully with his elbow.
Kaoru laughed again. "Two tickets? No, no, nothing like that. I just promised myself that I would try to have a good time! You know, go sight-seeing. Enjoy your wedding; maybe even have a reason to buy an extra ticket back home!"
"Well, that seems like a good promise." Sanouske suddenly fell silent. He didn't want her good mood to be ruined so quickly. The car ride home was agonizing. As Sanouske was trying to think of ways to tell Kaoru he was sorry and how he wanted to tell her, Kaoru had a smile plastered on her face, eyes closed with her head sticking party out the window enjoying the sun.
Sanouske took a deep breath in and began to turn the door handle. He pursed his lips and stuck his hands back in his pockets turning around to Kaoru.
"Ah, Kaoru... I have something to tell you..." A pause as he just stared at her.
"Yeah...? What is it Sano?"
"I just want to say I'm sorry..." With that he opened the door and expected to see Megumi and Kenshin right there, but instead was met with a sticky note.
"Sano? What's the matter? Sorry for what?"
"Ah, nothing. I just wanted to say sorry that Megumi wasn't home when you got here!"
"Oh! I don't mind. I'm sure I'll surprise her when she gets home!"
"I'm not so sure she's the one who's going to be surprised..." Sanouske mumbled and let Kaoru in.
'Sano, went to the library to plan a whole new damn seating chart. You better think of something! –Megumi'
Heh, hey every one! I swear to goodness that I haven't abandoned this story! Our internet has been down since before Christmas and I wasn't home enough to fix it, but it's up and running! Thankfully, I'm a few chapters ahead, so I didn't have to scramble to write a chapter. :] Anyways, the next one probably won't be until after the holidays are done with so enjoy!
WeepingRain: Yeah, Kaoru is a bit of a weeny. And by a bit I mean kind of a lot. For right now, anyways. I guess I just feel like it would be so devastating that she didn't feel good enough for everything if he just left with out saying anything. Or, I'm overly dramatic with my characters until they sort themselves out. ^^; And Kaoru is like the CEO of secretaries. Its tough having to deal with that stuff! But anyways, enough of a tangent. You'll just have to wait and see how strong Kaoru can be! ... Maybe. Thank you so much for reviewing, and thank you for your critique. :]
Brukaoru: I completely agree with you, about the chapters being longer. Before I had even posted the story, I had the first 5 chapters typed out and ready to go, and I was used to Mibba, with only having to write three pages worth in Word, and it being a nice long chapter on there, I was in for a shock when I got here. But writing more is a complete relief to me, because I don't have to look for places to chop my stories and still keep you entertained. So don't worry! They will get longer. I did write out Kaoru's boss and how she got the job and detailed what she did there, but cut it in fear that it was too long. I did leave out the name though, but I didn't things of that nature were relevant because he was such a minimal part of the story. Thank you very much for the critique and I hope to keep your interest!
Mellyd: Thank you! I will! :]
And as always, thank you hapiflower, Sailor Dreamer95, and nublet for adding me to your lists!