--------------àchapter 1

Chapter 8

In Aizu

"That's the last one. I guess I can close the clinic now," Megumi said to herself while closing the door of her clinic. The minor outbreak of flu in the area has kept her busy for the last three days. And Megumi was going to take a nice hot bath to reward herself for being able to do her share of work treating the patients. There was a knock on the door.

Megumi opened the door and saw a police officer and three shadows behind him. A closer examination revealed that the policeman looked quite tired and stressed. "Perhaps these policemen want something to alleviate their stress," Megumi thought.

"Megumi-sensei?"

"Yes."

"Hello, fox." The voice was from the tallest of the three shadows.

"Sa.. Sanosuke? K.. Kenshin? Ya.. Ya.. Yahiko?"

"No fun at all. She knew we were coming. But pity she has developed a bad case of stammering and cannot cure it. Maybe she's a fake, after all."

"What?"

"Megumi-sensei, it seems that you know these three gentlemen. Inspector Fujita asked me to lead them to you. Now, I will leave them with you."

With that Takeda turned and left.

"No wonder Fujita-san asked me to leave the street fighter. He is very troublesome, wanting to stop, eat, and gamble here and there. Well, now he's not my problem anymore," Takeda thought to himself.

Megumi stared at the three of them.

"Well, Megumi, are you going to invite us in or should we sleep outside?" Sano asked.

Megumi really considered the latter option, at least for the street fighter. But being Megumi, she just sighed and invited them inside.

Kenshin-gumi entered the clinic and looked around. Medicine bottles were arranged neatly on wooden shelves and other equipment used in treating patients were being organized by their shapes and functions. Megumi is a very neat person. The clinic itself was small, but cozy nevertheless.

Megumi sat at her place. The seat sat was still warm, after being used by her all day long. She was going to use it at least for quite some time now that the three of them are there. Megumi sighed once more.

"Okay, let me have a look at your injuries. It must have been quite a battle."

Kenshin, Sanosuke and Yahiko were surprised by her words. It seemed that she's getting better after moving to Aizu that she can even know about whether any of them have injuries or not from a glance.

"Sessha was surprised that Megumi-dono can know about whether people have injuries or not just by looking at them."

Megumi ignored him and kept quiet while examining Kenshin. After satisfied that there was no new injury on him, she motioned for Yahiko to come near.

"And what's wrong with you, Yahiko? You have been quiet all this time. You have a fishbone stuck in your mouth? Let me take it out."

"Mmm? Mmhmm.... mhmhhhm.... mhhhmmm.... Ow! Ow!"

Megumi looked at the fish bone in her hand. Kaoru must be a psychic to be able to predict this. But, the most important thing is...

"Sanosuke Sagara, have you been winning in gambles?"

"Him, winning in gambling? You will see the world coming to its end before you see him winning anything." The removal of bone from his mouth had restored Yahiko's speech abilities.

"Good, I thought that I had to become a woman monk or something just now."

"Eh? Are you all right, fox?"

"I'm all right, just forget everything about it." Megumi began to examine Sanosuke. Unbeknownst to her, when she did that, she was doing it very intently. She traced the outline of his body, touching his skin lightly. This was not gone unnoticed by the others.

"You like what you see, fox?"

Megumi was startled. "Damn," she thought. "What came over me?"

"It's your injuries. It seems, well, strange. It looks like that you have been attacked by bullets or something. What caused it?"

Yahiko did not want to let such opportunity of making fun of Sanosuke pass by.

"He tried, in the words of Saitou, to kill himself."

"Why?"

"He was thinking about y..."

A fist crashing to his head knocked Yahiko out.

"No wonder Kaoru always hit you. You're a regular pervert-chan. One more word and Tsubame hears about you, understand?" Sanosuke said angrily.

"Yes," the answer was meek.

Sanosuke then turned towards Megumi. "Just finish treating me."

"You're the one who interrupted me examining you. Treated free of charge, even. What an ungrateful idiot!"

After finishing her treatment on the ex-Zanza, Megumi then stood up and began to leave the room when Kenshin asked her.

"Sessha was puzzled. Megumi-dono seems to know we were coming and we were involved in a battle before coming here. Megumi-dono also knew about fishbone that was stuck in Yahiko's mouth and didn't ask about how Kaoru is doing. Sessha finds that to be strange. Sessha hope Megumi-dono will explain how Megumi-dono came to know about these things.

Megumi turned and gave a look at Kenshin. She felt sorry for Kaoru. She knew Kaoru was saddened by what Kenshin did, although she tried to hide it from her. Mixed emotions that showed up on her face didn't provide Kenshin with the answer he asked. In fact, it even confused him further. Megumi then proceeded to look at the other two for a few seconds before making up her mind.

Megumi let out a long breath before answering Kenshin. "Take your bath first. I will explain about it later." Kenshin sensed that whatever she will be saying will take a long time and he will not like what he will hear.

Afterwards, the four of them sat in the living room. Being a good host, Megumi poured the tea in all of their cups, although she nearly poured the hot tea on Sano after hearing a snide comment about her from him. Kenshin wisely waited for Megumi to begin the story herself.

After pouring the tea in the cups, Megumi took one of them and held it near her mouth, while mentally trying to put the story she's about to tell in suitable words. After struggling with her thoughts, she finally blurted, "Kaoru was here."

"WHAT?"

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

The replies she heard confirmed that they really don't know what Kaoru was doing and where she was. It also confirmed what Kaoru said about them going on a wandering trip throughout Japan. She smirked.

"Kaoru said that you will probably find trouble and will be involved in one or two fights. She even predicted correctly that Yahiko will put a fishbone in his mouth in an effort to imitate the free-loader."

"Hey, I didn't try to follow the free loader's way. The fish bone get stuck in my mouth during dinner."

"Okay, at least you have to admit you were trying to compete against me in eating during the dinner, Yahiko-chan."

"Hey, don't call me chan."

Megumi just smiled. "It's a good thing that she incorrectly predicted that Sano will be winning in his gambles or else I will believe there are golden rainfalls falling down outside Japan."

"Megumi-dono, where is she and how is she doing now," Kenshin asked. A hint of worry was evident.

Megumi's smile fell. She closed her eyes. Her thoughts strayed toward the day Kaoru left.

Megumi and Kaoru looked out from the clinic. The rain had subsided into drizzle. Kaoru raised her cup of tea and drank while Megumi looked at her, trying to put the question in the best way possible.

"Kaoru, if they get here, they will surely find out that you have been to this place. And they would also like to know what you will be doing and where are you going."

Megumi could see that her inquiry had an effect on Kaoru. A slight tremble was evident. Kaoru lowered her cup slowly.

"Tell them I'm going training to finish my study," she replied quietly. "And tell them I'll be fine. As for where am I going, I only have a vague idea, so I really can't tell you. I will let fate take me to wherever I'm going." Kaoru examined Megumi for a moment before continuing. "Please don't tell them about this, but I'm not going to let them find me until my journey ends. That is the other reason why I'm not telling you where I'm going."

"But you're being selfish by doing so. Don't you know that they will be very worried about you? At least please tell me your direction of travel," Megumi said tentatively. Tentatively, because she doesn't really know what else to say and it has to come out one way or other. And this is the most gentle way she could think of. "And it is the truth," she reasoned to herself.

Kaoru's head snapped and she starred harshly at Megumi. Although she had anticipated Kaoru will be angry at the remark, she was unprepared for the look she's getting from Kaoru. The intense emotions contained inside the stare were so intense that it paralyzed her. Then Kaoru's stare softened. "Sorry," she said while lowering her head down.

"Megumi, to tell you the truth, I really can't see Kenshin again. It's painful enough to be apart from him, but I don't know what will happen if I see him again and then separate from him. Please understand." The sentences used hid something else that Megumi didn't know. But Megumi didn't have the nerve to even say a word.

Kaoru sighed. "But, I will be content knowing that he's alive and well. Perhaps one day he'll come to peace with himself and settle down with someone that'll take care of him. When the time comes, I'll be happy for him."

She looked up and gaze into Megumi. Megumi was held again by those eyes, not by the intense anger this time, but by what the eyes revealed. Why did Kaoru let Kenshin go? Why did Sanosuke and Yahiko go along with Kenshin? Every answer to the questions Megumi wanted to ask about Kenshin and the circumstances in which he departed were there in those azure depths while other things remained hidden. Kaoru loves Kenshin. Then something flashed in her eyes.

"What was that? Did I work too much or did I just see something there. Something... Is it something about feeling sad? Something dangerous? A deep secret? Is it a deep secret that Kaoru never told someone? Maybe that even Kaoru herself doesn't know?" What she might have seen left Megumi puzzled.

Then Kaoru looked outside. The rain had stopped. "Looks like the rain has stopped. And I..."

"What's wrong, Megumi-dono?"

Megumi was brought back to the present by Kenshin's voice. She raised her head and look at each person sitting in front of her. She would think about what she might have seen later, when she has time. Perhaps, if she figured it out, she can tell the others. But now...

"She is going on a training journey to finish her study. But I don't know where or how she is right now." Megumi then continued to tell them the rest of the story, except purposely omitting certain parts.

Disclaimer:

Only some names are mine, the rest of the RK's rights are not. The story, however is mine. Enough said.

Terry's Kone (cool misspelling)

Finally, my first thesis is finished. Joy to the world! Hurray! I love myself.

Just ignore the first sentence. It's just my way of boosting my ego. If you congratulate me on that one, you're going to be sorry.

As all of you readers have seen and realized, well, I'll be doing "filler" episodes. Well, maybe you can help by giving suggestions on characters and what they will they do. Right now, I have conceived a new major character. Villain? Good guy? That's not decided yet. One thing I have decided, the name will be Jason. Oops. I hope I don't piss off my editor. But hey, I wanted to put Terry as one of the major bad guys, but decided it would make me look like an ego driven bastard. Which I am. Oh well, I said to myself, just put Jason instead. Honest.

Send Suggestions and Flames (Waters and Ice also received) to:

Lone_wolf_ns@yahoo.com

Editor's Strike Back

I would be honored to have my name as one of your characters Terry. I propose the new major character to be a big brother of Kenshin who learned that he still had a brother living in Japan after being reclusive for twenty years. Hehe…