Ch.4: In the Palm of These Hands…..
Megumi was feeling very annoyed as she walked to her job this morning. It seemed that ever since Sanosuke had moved in with her, her bad luck had increased exponentially. This morning Sanosuke had gone missing and then her car had conveniently broken down fifteen minutes before she had to go to work. She felt a little nervous walking down the streets alone.
He wouldn't try to take me now…not when the streets are so crowded.
She sighed as she made her way down the narrow streets towards the office.
Someday
Sanosuke sat in a bar listening to the chatter around him. He had gotten a tip that some of Kanryuu's men had been seen hanging around the joint recently, and he was just waiting for someone to have a little slip of the lip so that he could do a little "questioning." His body went rigid as he heard a man from one of the tables behind him mention Kanryuu.
He willed the man to speak a little louder so that he could hear the conversation. But he only heard snippets. "Night….Kanryuu….orders….Warehouse" Finally giving up he reclined back into the chair again and ordered some more sake. Trying to seem as nonchalant as possible he looked back over his shoulder at the man, in an attempt to etch his features into his mind.
I might be able to get a little alone time with him just yet he thought as he watched the man walk into the bathroom and sauntered in slowly behind him.
I want to
Megumi had finally made it to the hospital. She hadn't realized it, but she had been holding her breath the entire way.
As annoying as that rooster head is as least he offers me some form of protection she paused there in the doorway for a moment wondering where he was, but her thoughts were soon interrupted as one of the nurses ran up to her with a clipboard. "Megumi" she said breathlessly, her face a little flushed "Your first patient is here, he's been sitting in the room for fifteen minutes now." Megumi sighed; life never seemed to pause for her, even when she needed it too. "Tell him I'll be there in a minute" She said as she made her way to her office, while looking down at the clipboard. From the symptoms that had been jotted down, it looked like a typical case of the flu.
That's a relief. I might have a few moments to settle down after all
The consultation was brief. It seemed he did have the flu. She prescribed him some medicine and escorted him to the door a little briskly. Then made her way to her office to relax until her next appointment.
Protect You
"Tell me everything you know" Sanosuke shouted at the man again as he punched him in the face. He didn't want to knock the man unconscious, but he couldn't help but feel a little frustrated at the fact that he wasn't getting any information out of the guy.
"I don't know nothing" The man said as he tried once more to squirm his way out of Sannosuke's grasp.
Sanosuke punched him even harder this time really knocking him out. He let go of the man and watched him slump to the floor. Kicking him in the side for good measure he walked over to the sink to wash his hand, and only then did he realize that some of the blood was his own. Actually, now that the adrenaline was wearing off he was beginning to feel the effects of those punches too.
From Anything
There was a knock on the door of her office. "Megumi?" one of the nurses nervously poked her head in.
"Yes" she said trying to sound professional, as if she really hadn't just been caught dozing off at her desk.
"We've been paging you for a few minutes now. There's a call waiting for you on line 1. They say it's a family emergency."
"Thank you, I'll take it from here" she murmured trying to hide the fear that was already spreading through her every limb.
Her hands nervously clutched the mouth peice, but she couldn't seem to pick it up. She knew that she didn't have any family, not anymore at least, which meant that it could only be one person…..Finally mustering all of the courage she could she put the phone to her ear and said.
"Hello"
And Everything
They had noticed from a young age that he was much stronger than all the other boys and had sent him away to be trained in martial arts. He had been quite good at it actually. But in the recent years, it seemed that all of the fighting had taken a toll on his hands.
He looked down at them. Scarred from years of fighting. Bleeding a little now here and there.
The doctors had told him to quit fighting so much before he did irreversible damage to his hands, but fighting was apart of him now. And that's what you do when you love something. You do it even if it leads you to your own destruction…… right?
He turned off the faucet and headed towards the Medical Center. He needed to pay a certain doctor a visit.
In the Palm of these hands
Megumi sat the phone back down in it's cradle. It had been him. Kanryuu had people following her apparently. He had only spoken a single sentence but it was enough to strike fear deep down inside of her.
"Megumi…...it isn't safe for a woman of your…...status to be walking all alone" She sat back in her chair unsure of what to do. She had no way contacting Sanosuke, and there was no way she was going to walk home alone.
The phone beeped again. Nervously she picked up the phone again and sighed with relief when she realized that it was just one of the nurses.
"You have a patient waiting for you in room three" The nurse giggled a little as she hung up the phone. Megumi was a little confused. She didn't have an appointment scheduled for eleven o' clock.
It must be a walk-in She grabbed her stethoscope as she walked out the door.
When she first walked through the door and got a look at her patient, she was flooded with a lot of mixed emotion. Anger, Confusion, Relief, Frustration, Fear? She finally settled on anger and slapped him in the face. The fact that he was still smirking didn't seem to help her mood at all.
"Oi fox! what'd you do that for?"
Why did I do that
Unable to find an answer, she ignored the question and leaned back against one of the counters in the room finally facing him again. "Why are you here, you don't look sick at all" she said as she looked him over. It was obvious that he had been drinking…..a lot. So much for my bodyguard.
"It's my hands" he said as he stretched them out towards her. She hadn't noticed them before seeing as he had been hiding them in his pocket. She took his hands in hers and studied them closely missing the blush that colored Sanosuke's cheeks when she did so. Turning them over one by one she studied the deep grazes. He had obviously used his hands a lot over the year.
"Where were you this morning?" she asked as she let go of his hands, and began searching for the bandages in one of the drawers.
"Taking care of business." He said nonchalantly. "Why did you miss me?" He raised one of his eyebrows at her.
She paused in her searching for a moment to glare back at him. "No, I'm asking because……He called me today….they're following me" She managed to whisper out. She finally found the bandages and waited for his response as she began wrapping his hands. He didn't answer her, so she paused before wrapping his left hand and met his gaze.
His eyes were distant and he seemed to be in deep thought. Finally the focus seemed to return to his eyes. "I'm sorry" he murmured. An awkward silence soon followed. She continued wrapping his left hand.
Sanosuke wasn't sure how it had happened, but somewhere down the line he had begun to develop feelings for her. But he knew that she would never be interested in a guy like him. He let his head hang a little.
"There, all finished" She let go of his hand and they just kind of looked at each other for a moment until Megumi finally cleared her throat and said "Ready for Lunch?"
"Actually…..I am." He nodded "I have a special place in mind"
A/N: well, sorry it took so long to update. College has been keeping me extra busy. But anyways ch.4 is finally up and hopefully ch.5 will be up sometime in the near future. Winter break anyone?
