Over Him
by Mirune Keishiko
chapter eleven
Off Guard
Heels clicking, long hair drifting in the wind, Megumi walked swiftly along the sidewalk, as though, she thought grimly, she were trying to outpace the doubts and uncertainties gnawing at her heart.
She'd never had to do any chasing before. She'd always been the one who waited for them to come to her—and she'd never waited in vain. She'd always been the one who was given gifts, who was chased down for dates, who had them clogging up her answering machine for weeks on end.
They'd always been the ones going after her before.
...Well, except for Kenshin.
But not even Kenshin had filled her mind so constantly as Sano.
This is stupid. Megumi's free hand clenched into a fist in the sleeve of her coat. He's going to laugh at me. He's going to think I'm easy. He's going to take me for granted. It's not like he misses me…
It had been three weeks since that sunrise on the riverbank; though she refused to let herself dwell on it, since then he had only called twice, and those times she could only afford a few minutes of small talk before she had to go back to work. The one time she had seen him since that morning was when they had run into each other at the grocery store a week ago, and then he'd seemed distracted and distant somehow, and he'd excused himself to leave soon afterward.
But not before he'd mentioned how much he hated the commercial canned type of cranberry sauce he was forced to buy for Thanksgiving. Megumi could still remember the wistful look in his long-lashed eyes as he rhapsodized over memories of his late mother's cranberry sauce.
Megumi cursed her inability to get him off her mind, but she had to admit she made damn good cranberry sauce, herself.
And she had to admit, she wanted to see the happy surprise on his face when he opened up her gift for him.
Still her heart was heavy as she rounded the corner to find the Akabeko already lively with a crowd of mostly men. Tae had decided to put up a huge TV display for the day's football games, and from the looks of it, the customers had come flocking. Megumi slowed to a halt in front of the entrance of the restaurant, gripping the handle of the heavy little paper bag tightly as she eyed the double doors, giving herself one last chance to change her mind.
Well, I'm not about to eat all of this just by myself, either.
She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, squared her shoulders, and checked her reflection in the glass windows one last time before going in.
The noise and heat rushed her in an almost physical wave as the doors swung shut behind her, so sudden and overwhelming she had to stop and recollect herself. The restaurant was even more packed than it had seemed; males of every shape and size were swarming the bar and the tables, giving her appreciative looks that set her blushing despite herself. She wondered how Tae's niece Tsubame was faring—the shy girl helped out at the restaurant after school, and balked at serving the louder, noisier customers even on sane days. As Megumi made her way through the crowd, excited shouts and hoots echoed through the restaurant—apparently they were winning, whoever they were.
She rose on her tiptoes, tucking the paper bag with its heavy jar safely against her arm, and scanned the bustling scene for Sanosuke.
There he is!
A bubble of happy heat burst in her chest. He was grinning broadly and shouting something at the TV; as a runner wove his way across the broad green field on the screen, Sano leaped to his feet and joined the chant that was steadily gathering in the room. Megumi, pressing forward, couldn't help but admire his wide, enthusiastic smile as he turned his head to speak to a slip of a girl sitting on the armchair beside him—
—who jumped him in a wild embrace, shrieking triumphantly, as the runner made a touchdown and the whole restaurant erupted into cheers and yells.
Megumi stopped.
She was a beautiful little thing, huge oceanic eyes in a pale delicate face, a braid of raven hair snaking down her back, long graceful limbs bared for all the world to see in a tank top and cutoffs in the last wintry days of November.
Sano was hugging the girl back fiercely; then she was shouting something in his ear and he was laughing, answering back with his cocky, easy grin, his sparkling dark eyes...
Waves of heat and jubilant noise surrounded Megumi, relentless and mocking, stealing at her breath, muddying her mind.
And she spun on her heel and left, almost as quickly as she'd come, stopping only to entrust her paper bag to Tsubame behind the bar. Because she did, after all, make it for him; because she'd have to dump the sauce down the sink otherwise and people were starving in Africa; and there were worse ways to end such almost-relationships, she supposed, gritting her teeth against the tears.
That night Sano ended up giving his cans of cranberry sauce away to the homeless man on the corner. His sister Misao refused to eat anything but the stuff in the jar, and he could only laugh.
tsuzuku
No, the story isn't over yet. crosses fingers I've just been really busy with school, but now that summer break is coming (well, what I've got of it), I hope to get back into the fun of writing this fic. Thanks so much for your patience. There's plenty yet to come. Ü