The world came back into being in flashes of light and whispers of familiar voices. But he did not want to come back. Not then. The world was still too bright and too painful. He wanted to rest. To sleep in the arms of dreams. Dreams of dark places and winds; of wolves and Kings; of stars and a chase. And yet he felt himself waking.
Sanosuke's body was stiff and broken as he laid on the hard unforgiving wood. He tried to move but he felt every cut, bruise, and broken bone in his body react. Even as he moaned, he felt pain in his jaw and inside his mouth. He quickly learned he shouldn't move. But even after he stopped, currents of pain ravished his body.
He began to search his memory. The last thing he remembered was Saitou Hajime. Saitou. The name kept repeating in his head. Then his image came, his cold amber eyes staring at him. Sanosuke could stand it. And had to move.
Stubborn as he was, Sanosuke didn't let a little thing like pain stop him, so he lifted his arm and reached out, his eyes shut tight to help bear the pain, and began to sit up.
A pair of hands grabbed hold of Sanosuke's shoulders then. Gently, they held Sanouke down. Sanosuke, being too tired to fight back, laid back down, though he flinched at the touch, fearful of more waves of pain.
"You just rest now, rooster-head," said a familiar voice. It was softer and less judging than he remembered, but it was obviously Megumi. Sano felt himself relax; he was safe. He allowed himself to fall into darkness.
The next few weeks went by much like this: Sanosuke would stir, woken by the same dreams. Some days there were more familiar voices. Not just Megumi, but other panic-stricken voiced calling his name before Megumi shushed them and reminded them of Sano's need for rest.
Then, one miraculous day, Sanosuke opened his eyes to the world. It was a struggle just to open his eyes, for a heavy buildup had crusted over his eyes from the tears and puss. He shut them right away as the sun pierced his eyes. With all the strength he had saved up inside of himself, he braced himself on the wall and sat up. It was a slow process. Every muscle seemed completely useless and sore, but somehow he sat up all the way. He panted and clutched his stomach, feeling violently sick. He opened his eyes again. The light was so bright that he had to look towards the wall.
Sanosuke heard the screen open to the room and he whirled himself around. The sun was even brighter and he couldn't make out the figure in the doorway. He lifted his other arm to shield his eyes but pain shot up his arm. It was broken, obviously. He brought it back down and cradled it with the other arm until the throbbing ceased.
"Sanosuke," said Megumi's voice. She placed a hand behind Sanosuke's head and lowered him back down. A few moments later, Sanosuke felt a wet cloth wash over his eyes. After that, it was a little easier to open his eyes.
"Sano? Look at me."
Blinking against the harsh light, Sanosuke slowly looked over to see Megumi standing over him.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked.
Sanosuke lifted his good arm - slowly - and pointed to Megumi.
"Fox ... woman," he croaked.
Megumi had a look on her face then like she was about to start beating Sanosuke over the head with whatever was handy. That drew a smile from Sanosuke, albeit a small, weak one. Megumi smiled back and began tending Sanosuke's wounds.
Megumi's hands were swift and sure as she treated Sanosuke. Her scowling face had melted away the moment she touched him. It was replaced by every part of her that was a doctor, which could be seen through her knowledgeable, diligent, and disciplined eyes.
When she was done, Megumi helped Sanosuke to sit up. It proved more difficult than even the first time he sat up, by himself. Sanosuke became aware of injuries he hadn't noticed before. A few of his ribs were cracked and his stomach burned as the acids inside ate at each other. He clutched his stomach and tried to calm his body enough to concentrate on something else.
"How ... did I get here?" Sanosuke asked once he could sit up on his own.
"Your friend, Katsuhiro. You're lucky he came around when he did! He said it looked like you were about to have the finishing move put on you. And from the looks of you, I'd say he was right. I haven't seen you this messed up since Saitou ... " Megumi stopped herself. She wasn't sure if a fight he had lost before would be a good topic to discuss while he was recuperating from another lost fight.
"Get Kenshin," Sanosuke asked bluntly.
Megumi blinked at Sanosuke. "What happened, rooster-head?"
"Just get him. I need to talk to him ... right away."
"What aren't you telling me?" Megumi asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Megumi," Sanosuke half-pleaded, half-ordered.
Megumi sighed through her nose and dropped her arms to her side. "I'll send Ayami or Suzume to go fetch him," she said, defeated.
"Thank you," Sanosuke said, relief in his sigh.
Megumi laughed, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.
"I guess that concussion was worse than I thought," Megumi said, and stepped out of the room.
Kenshin arrived as the sun was settling down for its nightly slumber. He was dressed in tattered but wearable clothes and his bright sun-bleached hair glowed in the evening light. He smiled at Sanosuke, the trademark scar on his cheek lifting as he did so. The setting sun behind him illuminated Kenshin's outline with a golden halo, making him seem as pale as ever. If the humble rurouni had been beautiful before, now he was absolutely angelic.
Sanosuke smiled back weakly and didn't try to sit up that time. He'd had his fill of rediscovering his injuries for the day.
"Sano. I'm glad to see you're finally awake," Kenshin said, sitting down at the end of Sanosuke's hospital bed.
"It's good to be back among the living," Sanosuke joked. "I thought I was in another world for a while." He smiled, but then his smile faded.
"Sano, Megumi said you wanted to see me right away. Is something the matter?" Kenshin leaned in closer as he lowered his voice.
Sanosuke nodded. "It's ... Saitou."
Kenshin's eyes didn't show change from shock, or any other emotion. It was as if the though of Saitou returning wasn't surprising to him. The only change was a slight inclination of curiousity in his tone. "Saitou? Did he do this?"
"No. He didn't do this. But he was there. I don't know if Katsu saw him, but he was there. In the alleway ... with the guy that I ... fought with." Sanosuke was beginning to have a problem fishing for words, though Kenshin couldn't tell if it was the injuries or his pained pride. Kenshin laid a hand on his friend's.
"If you need to rest, I can go," Kenshin said, motioning towards the door.
"I've been resting for quite some time, Kenshin. Pardon the pun, but I'm tired of resting," Sanosuke spat.
Kenshin smiled, glad to see Sanosuke's old energy back. "I'm sorry. It's just that you gave us all quite a scare. Everybody's been to visit while you were asleep. Katsuhiro comes almost every day. He was the one that found you. I assume Megumi told you that."
Sanosuke nodded. "Yes. I'm shocked. He pulled himself away from his beloved newspaper."
Kenshin let out a quiet laugh. "Like a baby torn from its mother. He always showed up with ink and powder all over him. Megumi forced him to wash thoroughly before he could set foot in your room."
Sanosuke cortled. "Sounds like Katsu, the dirty writing machine."
They shared a laugh. Things turned solemn quickly when Sanosuke flinched and clutched his stomach.
Kenshin held Sanosuke's hand tighter as he hissed in pain. His eyes searched Sano with silent query, waiting for the signal to fetch Megumi. When the pain had passed and Sanosuke's body was calm again, he noticed Kenshin's hand clamping onto his.
"Kenshin, it's just my stomach. You don't have to hold my hand as if you were my mother," Sanosuke chided.
Kenshin took his hand away, embarrassed. "Sorry."
Sanosuke gave Kenshin a look that said, "It's okay," though he would never say it.
"So ... why do you think Saitou might be here now?" Sanosuke asked.
Kenshin looked off into the distance, entraced. His thousand yard stare gave Sano the clue that he was searching deep in the painful past of his.
"With Saitou, I cannot be sure. He is a mystery shrouded in shadows. Maybe as the Battousai I could have understood him, though I doubt I could even then."
"Yes, he's nuts," Sanosuke said, putting it into his own words.
Kenshin smiled shortly and began to wander off in his own mind again. "Who was the man who attacked you? He may be more important to examine than Saitou."
Sanosuke furrowed his brow. "The guy I fought with ... I'd never seen him before, and I know pretty much everybody in the area. I'm guessing he's new. And fucking dangerous." Sanosuke began rubbing a bruise near his eye. "Not to mention completely insane."
"What does he look like?"
Sanosuke told Kenshin the details of the stranger, from his cold eyes to his billowing robe.
"I don't believe I've ever heard of him either. No matter how hard I search my memory, I've never met anybody like what you've described."
"Che," Sanosuke spat. "With all the psychopaths you've met, this had to be the one you didn't know about?"
Kenshin half-smiled.
Megumi walked in the room after that. Katsuhiro was behind her. He looked as pale as a ghost and twice as solemn.
"Sanosuke!" Katsuhiro yelled. Color came back to his face as he smiled and rushed to the side of Sanosuke's bed.
"Calm down Katsu. You look like you thought I might actually die," Sanosuke said, a mischievous edge to his smile.
"Think? Have you looked at yourself lately? You look like a walking corpse," Katsuhiro said, his face going red with frustration.
"Oh come on, I'm not that bad, am I?" Sanosuke turned to Kenshin.
The solemn look in Kenshin's eyes was all the answer Sanosuke needed. The smile on Sanosuke's face fell.
"Megumi ... get me a mirror," he demanded.
Megumi gave Kenshin a cautious look. "Are you sure? You haven't healed all the way and, well, you don't look like yourself."
"Stop jerking me around, I want to see."
Megumi huffed her frustration out through her nose. Shaking her head, she began digging around in her medicine chest. She pulled out a small hand mirror and handed it to Sanosuke. Sano took it from her grip quickly, and looked at himself.
Sanosuke wasn't sure how to react. He stared at himself in that mirror for longer than he meant to. They were right: he did look like a corpse. He was pale and sickly looking, and his cheeks were sunken in. His skin was taught and yellow, and cracked along the lines of his mouth. His eyes were puffy, both of them recovering black eyes. One side of his mouth was very swollen and colored a dark purple.
Sanosuke had to put down the mirror. He wasn't sure how it had come to this, but for the second time since he had faced Saitou Hajime his weakness was displayed out in front of him. Only this time, Saitou hadn't even laid a finger on him. Sanosuke wondered for several long moments, how exactly Saitou always managed to do that.
"Sanosuke?" Kenshin called quietly.
"Once I'm out of here, I need to become stronger," he said quietly as a promise to himself.
Katsuhiro and Kenshin exchanged worried glances.
"I'm tired. You should leave now," Sanosuke said before closing his eyes.
It was another month before Megumi let Sanosuke leave the clinic. He had no choice after all, his legs were almost completely useless. Over the weeks, he began to get his strength back, but the only reason Megumi let him leave was because he was well enough to be on crutches and screaming to be let out. Before letting him go, Megumi gave Sanosuke more ointment, crèmes, and powders than Sanosuke really knew what to do with, even though Megumi spent ten minutes explaining how to use each one.
Sleepy and very disgruntled, Sanosuke managed to limp his way back home. He hadn't bothered to wait for any help because he felt he needed none. However, he found himself completely exhausted when he finally reached home. If it weren't for the fact that he still had strength left to glare, the squatters in his apartment might have just stayed for the night again, thinking Sanosuke himself was another squatter. But they fled, and once Sanosuke had moved out his futon, he was fast asleep.
He woke up several hours later feeling hungry. Barely aware of his motions, he picked himself up and stepped outside. It had become dark. The night was clear and starry, but warm, for spring was slowly turning into summer. Quite a few people were walking through the street, but they were paying no attention to him. Sanosuke moved on to the nearest place he could beg for food: The Akabeto.
When Sanosuke parted the curtain and stepped into the restaurant, Tae turned around as if she were greeting any other customer, but found herself frozen.
"Yo Tae. Think a guy can get some hot food?" he said, smiling a quirky smile
Tae's eyes were lined with glittering tears, and Sanosuke could tell she was on the brink of crying.
"Sanosuke! You're feeling well again?" she cried.
"It takes more than a massive head wound to put me out of action. You know that," Sanosuke said, and winked.
Tsubame then snuck her way over to him with the same happy yet teary look in her eyes. "Sanosuke! Come, sit down!"
"Yes yes, go sit down," Tae said, regaining her composure and ushering him along. "It's just so good to see you again, Sano."
Sanosuke reached out and put an arm around Tae and hugged her. "Always my favorite waitress," he said, and placed a brotherly kiss atop her head.
Sanosuke was being seated by Tsubame, but as he walked down the aisle of the restaurant, he stopped dead in his tracks. He look to his left and simply stared, his gaze in a place between shock and rage.
"Sanosuke?" Tsubame asked, her voice both curious and frightened.
Saitou Hajime was sitting at the Akabeto alone, sipping a bowl of hot soba. He had a blank expression on his face, his eyes closed to the world. He seemed completely at peace, which did not seem at all hindered by the presence of Sanosuke.
This made Sanosuke's fists curl.
"I'm sitting here Tsubame," Sanosuke said in a low voice, plunking down in front of Saitou.
"Fujita-san?" Tsubame asked cautiously.
"It's alright," Saitou said with a pleasant smile, and nodded.
Tsubame looked nervously from one man to the next, but scampered off to go serve other customers and move away from the potentially dangerous situation.
Sanosuke stared at Saitou as he ate for several long moments. Saitou was not dressed in his police uniform, but instead dressed like anybody else. His outfit was quite like the outfit he had worn the first time he had come to the Kamiya Dojo, disguised as a pharmaceutical salesman. Sanosuke went hot under the collar when he saw that in reality it was the same exact outfit.
"Fancy seeing you here," Sanosuke said in mock-politeness.
Saitou simply took another sip of the broth.
Sanosuke slammed his fist down on the table, making Saitou's tray rock. "I'd like some explanations," he demanded.
"It's quite stupid of you to begin blaming me for what happened to you. In fact, I believe I warned you to leave," Saitou casually reminded him.
Sanosuke growled in his throat. He had the sudden urge to spit into Saitou's bowl.
"I don't give a damn about your intentions. Who the hell was that guy you were with?"
"You mean the one that crushed your skull into the dirt?" Saitou asked. His eyes flipped up from the bowl and stared into Sanosuke's, his amber glare mocking him.
"That would be the one," Sanosuke growled low, glaring back.
"He is not someone to concern yourself with. In fact, you should forget all about him." At that, Saitou set his empty bowl down and stood to leave.
Sanosuke hopped out of his sitting position as fast as he could, finding his balance on his crutches just in time to keep from falling.
"I'm not going to forget about this! I'm going to find that man, and when I do I'm going to give him the fight of his life!"
Something flew through the air towards Sanosuke. He caught it at his chest and had to cradle it to keep it from hitting the floor. He looked and saw that he had caught a silver billfold with quite a lot of money in it.
"Pay your tab," Saitou spat. He parted the curtain and disappeared into the streets.
Sanosuke found himself staring at the billfold for longer than perhaps he should have. It was quite a lot of money, but Sanosuke had no idea what to do with it. Was Saitou paying him off for his silence? Sanosuke felt very, very weak at the hands of Saitou Hajime, yet again.
Sanosuke replaced that feeling with something that was more familiar and comfortable to him: anger. Saitou was paying him off. Trying to make him disappear, go away, like the annoying ahou he was. He went hot in the face and walked as fast as he could with his knees complaining beneath him to the end of the restaurant. He slammed the billfold on the counter in front of Tae, who jumped, before walking outside into the warm Tokyo night.
"Saitou!" he screamed into the darkness. But there was nobody there. Not even when he looked around the corners and into the alleyways, there was no trace of Saitou. Sanosuke let out a frustrated cry and broke his crutches on the side of a building.
He stared at the pile of splinters that used to be his crutches and sighed.
"Aw, crap ..."