A/N: Thank you all for the fantastic feedback you all have given me, through reviews, private messages, and messages sent through my LJ – you're amazing, and it's your interest that keeps me writing! I'm glad to see I'm not the only who doesn't find Megumi so mature and great; something about her rubs me the wrong way. Let's put it this way, I have known women with her type of personality, and we clashed terribly. For all the good she does with her medicine, to me, she is very...unkind. I'll stop ranting now though, as my opinions really aren't important in this matter.

I am having so much fun writing the sequel for Power. Guys. GUYS. Are you listening? Listen listen listen – the things. The things that happen. YES. And the angst. Guys. I love me some angst. I want to get drunk and make out with angst. For real. But I'll hush now, and go back to writing. Ku ku ku ku! I mean...hi. :) Totally your average, non-evil fic writer here. Totally not tormenting our lovely characters. Really.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

"Is it true?" Megumi asks after a day in residence at the dojo, while Kaoru drinks tea and wonders how her home has become a magnet for castaways. Broken from her thoughts, she looks up, brow furrowing in a silent question of confusion.

"I was in town today, picking up a few ingredients for dinner -" Megumi is cooking, a repayment for being allowed to stay. Kaoru doesn't have it in her to begrudge the woman for being a better cook than herself, because it smells delicious. "And, well, I heard some very shocking rumors."

"I don't know what Sano did with that dog," Kaoru answers bracingly, frowning. "All I know is that he drank quite a lot of sake, and when he came home the next morning, Katsu wanted to know if it was a legally binding marriage."

"Ah," looking positively shocked, Megumi looks up from the pot, blinking rapidly. "I wasn't - that wasn't - I'm sorry, but did Sanosuke marry a dog?"

"I don't know," Kaoru repeats firmly, "And I don't want to know."

"You don't think that...that he..." Fluttering one hand expressively, Megumi raises her eyebrows. "You know."

"No! Well...I don't think he did."

The two women are silent. Megumi slants a look at Kaoru, breathing,

"How would that -"

"This dinner smells so wonderful, Megumi-san!" Kaoru interrupts brightly, "Thank you so much for preparing it for us."

"It is the least I can do," she demurs, dipping her head. "But, I was wondering...I had heard talk in town today - not about Sanosuke - and I was wondering if any of it was true...is your husband truly the demon of Kyoto?"

"My husband is at war," plucking her words carefully, Kaoru arranges them like sharp edged flowers. "Like so many other men."

"Yes, but is he the hitokiri Battousai?" Almost - but not quite - wincing at the other woman's directness, Kaoru stiffens her shoulders before meeting Megumi's gaze. For a time she is quiet, wondering how much to say. And then, because she thinks this woman should know who may come home at any time, she answers,

"Yes. My husband is known as the Battousai."

"Aren't you frightened of him?" Kaoru snorts before she can help herself, feeling as though shock gave her actual, physical blow.

"Frightened of - of Battousai? I know my husband has earned a fearsome reputation at war - and rightly so - but I am his wife. I have nothing to fear from him."

"You truly believe that, don't you?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I had heard other things, before I came here, about the Battousai. Rumors. They say he killed his first wife."

The wooden tea cup clatters to floor. Kaoru does not reach for it. Her heartbeat fills her ears like the pounding of war drums. Rage makes her hands tremble, and spots flicker in front of her eyes.

It feels like an eternity before she can speak.

"My husband's honored first wife was a casualty of war, like so many others," she finally responds, thrusting her words forward, using them as she would her bokken. "If Battousai had any involvement in her death, then it was a tragic accident, and nothing he would have done willingly.

"And Takani-san," she ends with cold formality, "If you would like to stay in our home, on my goodwill as the second wife of the Battousai you seem so willing to speak so cruelly of, you will never speak of this again. With anyone. And if you find yourself here when my husband returns, please kindly keep in mind that one does not become the assistant master of the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu simply by being the daughter of the creator. I am, perhaps, one of the most highly trained women you will ever meet. And I would be terribly angry if those horrible rumors were thrown in his face."

Megumi visibly shrinks, even if it is slight. She nods tightly.

Kaoru leaves, and refuses dinner.

Word Count: 663