A/N: Just have to clear a few things up. After I watched both parts of RK OAV 2, I learned that a lot of the details in Chapter 1 were wrong. First, this setting is supposed to be fifteen years after the series, meaning that Genzai-sensei, at the very least, would be too old to go traipsing to Aizu to greet Megumi. I think he'd prolly be dead by this time. ^^;; So instead of Genzai-sensei giving Megumi her Shanghai package, I made it in such a way that she received it from a doctor's organization. Secondly, I described Sano and Megumi very much older (think fifteen years after...Sano seemed to be growing a beard in the OAV ^^;;). And last, for those who knows what happened to Kenshin in the end of the OAV *sobs* (I'm not gonna spoil, don't worry), I changed the dialogue in where Sano asked Megumi about Kenshin and Kaoru. And expect Sano and Megumi to act older and more reserved in the succeeding chapters. Yes, it won't be as much fun as the old times, but they have grown older. ^^

The Dragon and the Phoenix

Chapter Three:
The Cloud Before a Storm

Sano stood silently in front of the inn.

He had told Megumi that he would wait for her here; he would have it in no other way. His job was to see to it that she was safe till the end of the day, and then he would have to report to the office.

He looked at the sky. The orange sun had dipped down. It was evening.

Sano closed his eyes and scratched his beard, feeling the Shanghai breeze blow across his face. Shanghai was the nearest place to Japan that he could go to. He had missed Japan very much. If he had his way, he would fight all the policemen who were hunting him down in Japan. What had prevented him from doing this was the fact that it would endanger everyone else. Enemies had a dirty way of getting to your loved ones just to get you, even if they didn't have anything to do with it. He could still remember what happened to Kaoru during Enishi's Jinchuu to Kenshin. He didn't want it happening to Megumi.

He wanted to go home so dearly.

There was a pit-patter of quick feet on the gravelstone and he opened his eyes. Megumi jumped out of the rickshaw and hurriedly paid the straw-hatted puller, almost dropping her coins with her trembling fingers. Sano blinked. The way she ran towards him reminded him of a skittered rabbit.

"Daijoubu ka?" asked Sano, noticing her agitated movement. "Something wrong?"

Her face was drawn and pale and her eyes were darting to and fro. "I-I'm fine," she managed to say.

Sano blocked her way with his huge frame, folding his arms. "You'll have to do better than that," he said calmly. "It looks like someone's after you."

"Nothing of the sort," answered Megumi, neatly sidestepping Sanosuke block. She entered the inn, and without a word, she made way towards her door as quickly as she could, with Sano trailing behind her, not far off.

Sano released her and she went into the inn as quickly as she could without a word. He followed her to the door of her room.

"Please leave," said Megumi as she made a move to close the door.

Sano leaned on the doorjamb collectively. "Not until you tell me why you look as if someone pointed a gun at you."

Bingo.

Megumi eyes widened.

"Don't be surprised," said Sano. "Shanghai is a big city with many insecure people. Tell me who pointed a gun at you and I'll deal with him myself."

"This is a bit way too big, even for you," said Megumi, closing the door and locking it.

"So there is something big going on that's frightening you, isn't it?" Sano called on the closed door.

"I didn't say that," was the answer.

"You were implying it. Other than the fact that you just bolted all the locks on your door and latched all your windows."

"Leave."

"My job is to make sure you're safe. Otherwise, I don't get paid."

"Oh, so you're asking me all these concerned questions because I might get in the way of your payroll?" There was an edge in her voice.

Sano kicked himself. He had no intention meaning it that way. But now that he had just said it-

"That's one of the reasons," he lied through his teeth.

"Thanks a lot. Don't worry, I'll take care of myself. You'll get your money."

Sano bit his lip. He didn't like lying to her one bit, yet he had sworn to himself that he would try to make their relationship as professional as possible. No feelings attached; it was just a job. Then she would leave Shanghai and he would be his own free man again. This relationship was doomed from the beginning, as he had foreseen. He was a wanted man and she was a respectable doctor who had a reputation to live.

"I'll stay here all the same," he said.

"What in heaven's name for?"

"Obviously, you're afraid of something, something that could hurt you from the way I see you acting. I'll stay on guard just in case."

"That really isn't necessary. I can take care of things myself."

"Some things are bigger than us."

"And some people would like to be left alone now, thank you very much."

There was a little pause when Sano didn't answer. Then Megumi cautiously asked, "You're just going to stand there in the hallway?"

"If I have to, yes."

"Don't you have a little drinking binge or something to attend to?"

It took much longer for Sano to answer. When he finally did, his demeanor had quieted and had grown less lively. "I don't do 'binges' anymore."

"Oh." Megumi had not expected this. "Well, congratulations then."

"Good night then."

"You're sleeping there?"

"Waiting." Sano's replies were getting shorter and shorter.

"Fine," said Megumi to herself.

***

Shanghai slept not a wink.

Neither did Megumi that night. Her thoughts were so full of what she had seen and what had happened that day. What had happened at the convention, if that was what it was still called. She had been baited, and she had taken it. She had vowed she would never do it ever again, and here it was, coming even more dangerously than it had come the first time.

Her heart thudded violently. She was alone in Shanghai...no, she couldn't ask for Sano's help; this will cost him more than just a scar on his hand. Lives were at stake here. But she was not afraid of dying. Yet she wanted to do something, anything, or else so many people will suffer.

For the fifth time, she rose from her bed and gingerly opened the shades, looking at the moon. Two hours, she had tried to sleep, to no avail. Her fingers felt tremulous as she pulled the shades down. She had to be careful.

"Megumi." Sano's voice floated from the door, and Megumi almost jumped from surprise. He was still here?

"You're not getting any sleep there, are you?" was his question.

Suddenly, she wanted to tell him everything, the entire, horrible story. He had sat up there for two hours...no, he had waited for her the whole day! Surely...surely she could-?

Megumi squashed the thought desperately. She had decided that no one else's blood would be involved...except hers. She was old now, not that vigorous twenty-two year old anymore who could have taken over the world if she wanted to. She had no husband or family to worry about. During the next years of her life, she will be able to do less and less. Yes, she could afford risking herself. But this must be done alone. Alone...by her own.

It was as if Sano had read her thoughts. He leaned on the wall, seated, his elbows on his knees. "I traveled all over the world and I've never seen a stronger woman than you," he said quietly. "But you don't always have to be. Sometimes..." and here he passed a hand over his sleep-hungry eyes, "some things were meant to be done together."

She did not reply. Sano expected as much. Megumi was a hard woman to persuade. A feeble, cheeky grin spread across his face despite himself. That was probably why he liked her so much in the first place.

Suddenly, there a small noise coming from the room.

The grin vanished.

He heard the noise again and he stood up.

Something about the sound of the window had been unnatural. Years and years of solitude and experience had taught him that even the smallest noise can tell a story. And this noise was by no means a pleasant one.

Sanosuke carefully leaned his ear on the door, his brows furrowed in concentration. Instincts ringing all over his head, he knocked on the door. "Megumi? Is everything all right?"

Naturally there was no answer. He tried opening the door but it was locked. Sano set his jaw firmly. Megumi may think him insane and will be mortified for life, but when someone's life was in danger, there was no time to think of proper etiquette. He pulled his left fist next to his shoulder. After his right hand had been broken by fighting with Shishio, he knew he could never use his Futae no Kiwami with it again. But after fifteen years of lonely, relentless practice, he had enabled his entire body with the move. His head, his left hand, his feet; all of them, like Anji, could easily reduce anything to dust. He had finally mastered Futae no Kiwami.

Eyes smoldering, he brought his fist onto the door with all the energy he could muster. There was a tremendous crash and the wind created by the force scattered debris all over the place. The door was open.

Sano rushed in before the dust could even clear. The room was dark but he knew that Megumi was gone. His eyes went straight to the windows. One of them was open, the night wind rustling its curtains like a rag doll. The room was in a disarray, with the signs of a struggle. Megumi had been kidnapped.

Sano took a deep breath and calmed himself, letting his senses take control rather than his bubbling emotions. The window, of course, had been the kidnapper's exit, but looking out, he had seen no one. He closed his eyes. He had acquired the instincts of a hardened fighter over the years; it was time for these instincts to work their magic.

Listen. Feel.

There it was.

Sano's eyes snapped open. He jumped out of the window, hair and cape flying, into a greatly-boughed tree. His arms caught one of the thicker branches and he looked up.

There, stock-still, hiding by the shadows of the branches and leaves, were two figures; a man crouched low, locking an arm over the neck of a woman, his other hand clamped shut over her mouth.

Sano narrowed his eyes. There were no questions to be issued forth; only action.

With a smooth flip, he flashed through the moonlight, but his opponent proved to have foreseen his speed. Before Sano could get a good hold onto a branch, the stranger reached out his fist, armed with brass knuckles, and gave a terrific blow on Sano's cheek. Disoriented and with his head ringing, Sanosuke lost his balance and fell down, spiraling from branch to branch and landing with a thud on the ground, leaves fluttering over his head.

Megumi cried out his name and her captor leaped off the tree effortlessly. His feet thumped on the ground a few inches away from Sano head. He was about to kick him when Sanosuke sprang up to life, catching his foot and twisting it. The captor, his curse muffled by the mask over his mouth, was taken by surprise and twirled over, releasing Megumi.

Sano was about to catch Megumi when someone else knocked him aside with such force that he skidded uncontrollably sidewards and crashed onto the trunk of tree. An electrical spasm of pain shot across his back. Panting, he flipped his long hair over his head, mouth bleeding. He glared up.

Astride on horses in front of him was a group of six men, dressed in black with thick caps over their heads and masks over their mouths. Each wore a gun on his hip, except the one who stood at the most front who wore two guns. He was their leader, a tall man, muscles bulging from his arms and legs. Each side of his hip held a long-nosed pistol, and by his side, cuffed with his huge arm and gagged by his beefy hand, was Megumi. The moonlight shone upon them and Sano could see the bewildered fear and concern on her face and the light glinting off the shiny pistols.

If he had been younger, Sano would have wasted no time in rushing out and given the strange man and his sable-clad group a thrashing worth of the Zanza. But now, as he sized up the huge leader and his fully armed and horsed platoon, he could see no chances in his being able to rescue Megumi.

The leader took one of his pistols and aimed at Sano. Megumi's eyes widened and a muffled sound coming from the leader's arm signified that she had screamed. Sano leveled his gaze at the barrel of the gun.

A shot was fired and Megumi gave a distinct jump. A newly-formed hole lay an inch away from Sano's feet.

"I trust you will not do anything foolish?" asked the leader, surprisingly in Japanese. He had not lowered his gun. "You look like a wise man; continue being so and I will let you live for another day."

Sano flushed. He might had grown wiser over the years, but he still had not learned how to control his disastrous temper. "Don't flatter yourself," he snarled. "I live for no one but myself."

But the other man merely gave a laugh as he holstered his pistol."I'm not one to waste breath to people who vainly try to be witty. My business here is done. Izukawa!" he called to the man who Sano had knocked down earlier. "Get your sorry ass over here."

The man limped towards an empty horse one of his comrades held for him, but not before spitting on Sano. Sano spat back at him, and Izukawa turned back, enraged by his challenge.

"E-nough!" roared the leader. "We are not here to have a spitting match with his raggedy one. Come!"

Izukawa grudgingly filed in with the troop. After casting one last contemptuous glance at Sano, the leader turned his horse around and galloped off with Megumi hanging by his arm for dear life. The rest of the group followed, and after a stamp of hooves and a swirling of dust, they were gone.

Sano got up, fists clenched, body tensed. Then he quickly turned around and dashed back to the inn.

They weren't the only one with horses.

chapter three, end