Author's Notes:
Hey! Hey! Hey! I'm back! (Don't mind me. I'm just hyper today. Tee-hee!) As I said, I'm determined to finish this fic within the duration of this week up to next week. Review please!
Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin is not mine.
S t a y F o r e v e r
By: g3ozLizh
Chapter Two
Megumi splashed away the last of the remaining tears with water. Kaoru and her had just finished talking and it did prove to be quite an effort on her part though it made her feel better.
She leaned her palm on the sink, thinking, So it's resolved now. I should go and meet him tomorrow… whatever it takes. She exhaled, bringing with it all her pent-up emotions. Glancing outside through the window to her left, she could see the sun setting.
Wearily, she made her way to her office. As she took a seat behind her desk, Dr. Genzai emerged from the door, looking worried.
Megumi tried to smile but it came more like a grimace.
"You should take a rest, Megumi-san. I take it you're not feeling well."
Megumi started to protest. "But I --- "
"No, it's okay. I can handle things around here anyway. There aren't that many patients."
Still, he could see that Megumi wouldn't give in so he added, "Besides, if you get sick, all the more work for me, right?"
Megumi slowly nodded, "Thanks."
As she went out of the clinic, she decided to visit a certain place. The place where she and Sano would be seeing each other for the first time after a very long time. Now how redundant is that? As redundant as the innumerable times he's name pops up in her head involuntarily.
The walk to the temple was the one of sundry thoughts running through her brain. Once in a while, she would stop to face the direction of the soft breeze so that it can skim her cheeks and clear her head.
Quietly, she went up the steps of the temple, turning left and right every now and then. It seems that she is used to the place. How can she not be familiar with the place? This is where they confessed their love for each other.
Up here on the cliff, she can see almost all of Tokyo. And under the low effulgence of the sunset, the site was breathtaking.
If only it doesn't bring so many memories… ones that I'm trying to forget yet failed too. True, those memories were sweet for a certain time being but right now, for the past few years, they only deliver her longing, sadness… a reminder of what she cannot have…
Of who she can never be with.
She heaved a heavy sigh. Just contemplating about all this stuff made her all weak inside so for succor, she leaned against a big tree --- the tree that happens to be where she and Sano first kissed…
Oh, damnit! Why does everything here have to remind me of him?
And yet, just thinking of him makes her tingle all over… in ways that no one ever could. She chuckled. Not even Ken-san.
A breath came out from her lips that sounded something like Sano. She closed her eyes, just letting the name slip through her tongue. Ahh… music to her ears.
"Kitsune."
Great. Now she's hallucinating. What's next?
"He won't be here till tomorrow," she chided herself, muttering softly. "So cease thinking about him."
"Talking to yourself again, Fox?"
Megumi's eyes snapped open. That voice. Of the many nights she had heard that voice so near her ear, whispering sweet nothings as hands caressed her in fashion that only he could do, arousing her in ways only he knows. So multitudinous nightfall had she dreamt of hearing his voice again and again, though she urges herself to just disremember him and move on. But how can she, when moving on means forgetting… and she could not forget about him. She just couldn't.
He's already a part of my lie, a part of my soul, a part of me.
Forgetting him is the same as not breathing at all. Try as she might to convince herself, she can't deny the basic fact that she would be living a life of denial if she forces herself to admit that life can still go on without him to put meaning to her every action… even if it's just the memories that kept her from completely taking her life.
So now that he's coming home…
"Megumi…"
It sounds so real… like as if she can actually reach out for it.
Slowly, she turned and emerged from behind the tree, both frightened and sanguine as to what she would see. Frightened for he might not be there and then all of this would just be a dream and she have to accept all over again that he's never coming home. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Sanguine for he just might be there and that maybe, they can pick up to where they left off…
The figure, hidden by the shadows moved closer.
She drew in her breath, afraid that if she exhales, she might never be able to breathe again. Just as the figure stepped out of the shadows and into the light, more imminent to her that their bodies were almost touching, she shut her eyes. To heck with reality. If she's imagining all these, then better stay in the dream world. It isn't everyday that she gets to come up with something as realistic as this. Yes, realistic but not the reality. You can say a dream is realistic and still refer it as a product of one's mind, nothing more. It couldn't hurt her then.
First, a rough callused hand crept up to her arms, to her shoulders. A hand that's tender… gentle to the touch. Next, the other hand grazed the nape of her neck and stayed there. All the while, Megumi closed her eyes, never daring to even take a peek.
Maybe she had jumped over the cliff and right now, this is just one of the many scenes of her life on earth that flashes before her eyes.
Yet, as the heat of a body that signals another's made her whole being yields to its earthly warmth, she just couldn't halt telling herself that maybe, this is real. Still, she resolves on doubting, not fully trusting her senses to tell her right from wrong, actual from fantasy. How many times had she depended on her senses, trusting, and still it chose to deceive her.
A soft, light pressure on her back told her that it's okay. It's okay to open her eyes now. To once again let her senses --- let her heart lead the way.
Reality will be good to her from now on.
She bared open her eyes, slowly, like one that is still dazed from a deep slumber. Cinnamon colored eyes greeted her dark chocolate one. For a millisecond, those are the only things that her eyes focused to, that her mind made sense about. So as the seconds tick by, her view widened and for the first time in five long years, the face of the man that haunted her dreams, kept her awake through the night, took and broke her heart… stared right at her. Solid, ruggedly handsome, heart-stopping, sincere, life itself… authentic.
Just as authentic as the senses are to her right now, right at this very moment in time.
He, Sano, caressed her cheek with so much tenderness and affection. "Meg…" he choked out the name, as if he himself could not believe his luck… or is it destiny? That at long last, finally, he had her in his arms once again.
Maybe, fate would give him another chance. She would give him another chance.
"Sano…?" Those warm beautiful eyes sparkling with what are undeniably joy and sorrow's tears.
He pressed her body more tightly towards him, more firmly yet more fragile-like, as if to confirm her question and erase all doubts.
At that, her tear-filled eyes looked down, bringing about a fall of so much emotions in a cascade of teardrops.
She wanted so badly to ask him why… so badly that it hurts. Why he left her, why he didn't write, why he broke her heart and made it all hopeful again just as it was about to be whole again… or so she tells herself. Why come back now? Why not years before? Why make her wait? Why take her heart to just break it in the end? Why her at all?
"Meg… Megumi look at me." Sano tipped her chin up with his finger. How his heart ached to see her crying. How his mind screamed for him to do something… anything just to see her smile again.
With a kiss… it is only with a kiss that he can let her know how he truly felt. A kiss is the only thing he can give her… the only thing he can think of… along with his undying love. She never had any complaints with it, just opened herself up to him wholly.
Now, he would know if she can still be that open to him… after all he put her through.
As he leaned forward, lips slightly apart, he sensed Megumi hesitating, pushing back a little. How that reaction alone pierced through his heart and no amount of physical pain he had endured can measure up to it.
He willed himself to prevent from screaming and tightened his embrace on Megumi, not in a possessive kind of way, but that that left the both of them breathless. Agonizing sensuality.
Soft breeze whirled by, surrounding them as if they were in a magical moment in time, the golden leaves dancing about, reacting to their emotions… their energies that are uniting them as one.
Sano tried again to kiss her and this time, she turned her head to the side, not meeting his lips.
"Sano… don't." It sounded calmer than what she felt inside yet the quiver on the last syllable, the last word, gave her away. Who was she trying to fool? This is Sanosuke Sagara, the man who could have been his husband, his definite soulmate --- if only he didn't place a doubt, an uncertainty in her faith, by leaving her behind.
Though she turned away, her hold on Sano's jacket only intensified, clinging onto him more.
Sano, with a heart still believing, awaiting, took her hand, squeezed it and placed it to his heart. "Megumi… please." His tone was pleading, a mirror of his regrets. He moved his head up a bit and all the while grazing her sensitive skin there, whispered to her ear, "I never did stop loving you. Not now. Not ever."
A sob rose out from Megumi's throat and she fluttered shut her eyes for she couldn't help but drown herself in his wonderful words. Words that are more than itself. Words that indeed, breathed life into her existence once again. The first one, of course, was when he saved her from her oppressors and the time of his confession to her.
Megumi herself turned her head back to face Sano, to look deeply into his eyes for the first time since she was in his arms. Whatever she saw in them took her guards down, hope and trust shining in her eyes.
Sano saw the slightest trace of a smile on her lips. Those lips that he decided to seal with a kiss.
The moment their lips met, it was all love and fireworks. Burning fire of desire coupled with that tingling feeling.
A warm sensation traveled throughout her body, pumping energy to every nerve, making her feel utterly alive yet faint at the same time --- and needed --- and wanted… loved.
The kiss was gentle at first, tongues entwining in a graceful dance of rapture. Yet as their bodies heat up, breaths short and rapid, desire builds up and the sweet kiss shifted to that of pure longing, passion and hunger. Hard, fast and biting… Megumi's lips were bruised but they are nothing compared to the pleasure derived from such activity. Their arduous kissing left them weak, energies spent up that Megumi had to lean up against the tree to keep her on her feet.
Engrossing was the kiss that Megumi forgot all sense of rational thinking. What she said next stopped time: "Make love to me, Sanosuke."
Author's Notes:
What Sano's reaction to Megumi's uhm… request may not be what you expect. I wanted to add the next paragraphs to this chapter but I think it would be much suspenseful if I continue it to another chapter. So in that case, I may be adding another chapter to this fic… that will make it four. This installment is a bit on the rough part for I wrote it on pure impulse. Whatever came into my mind, I typed it down. Ahh.. the splurge of the moment! Tell me if this chapter's too mushy or over exaggerated. I have to tell you though that I enjoyed writing this part of the fic! Hmmm… I'm also thinking of writing a lemon sometime in this fic? Whaddya think? Are you all up for it? Do you think I can do it good? Please review! Ciao!
And of course, infinite thanks to the reviewers especially to Karina Kineshi who never failed to review and encourage me! Thank you!