Chapter 2:

"Maintaining New Identity"


Megumi had no idea how long she was unconscious or how she got to the patient bed, but she did know that the person she stared up at when she awoke was very well, a six year aged Sanosuke Sagara. Still recovering from her earlier faint, she squinted her eyes as she watched him get up and head over to the kitchen for some more water, completely unaware that she had come out of her pleasant slumber until he returned.

"Oh, you're up," he said as he set the bowl down on the little footstool on the floor beside him and dipped the white cloth into the new water before placing it on her forehead again, "How're you feeling? You feel nauseous at all? Thirsty?"

Megumi shook her head, her eyes studying him as he continued patting the towel against her cheeks. Sensing her watching him, Sano stopped and turned to look at her, the familiar golden flecks in her eyes sparkling in her pupils as he met her gaze. Megumi had her eyebrows creased, as if concentrating on something very hard, her mouth no longer wearing the friendly smile he saw earlier as it was now pulled into a tight line. She swallowed.

"Am I dead?" she asked him and slowly he shook his head at her.

"No," he replied, not even blinking as he continued to stare at her.

"Am I dreaming?" she asked and again, he shook his head.

"No."

"Are you dead?" Megumi asked, tilting her head to the side to look at him better, searching for some kind of sign that he really was a living breathing human being. Sanosuke chuckled at that and he shook his head for the third time.

"Nope," he said with a smile, "I'm just as alive as you are."

Just to prove it, Sanosuke pinched his arm and Megumi watched to make sure he was telling the truth. Somehow, she still wasn't convinced. Unconsciously, she reached up with her hand as slowly as she could, stretching it out to touch his face, but she abruptly drew back as she realized what she was doing.

The thought of having him disappear if she touched him scared her more than thinking he was a ghost sent to her from Heaven. So instead of touching his skin and risking the beautiful dream to end, she reached higher and settled on pulling on a strand of brown hair that fell into his eyes. Sure enough, it was real.

"You changed your hair," she stated blandly, running her finger over the single strand as she stared at it in wonder, "You cut it."

"You did too. The last time I saw you...." Sanosuke trailed off at his last sentence as she gave him a hurt look and he cleared his throat. That was definitely not the way to go. He tried again. "Megumi, I didn't exactly come here to talk about different styles our hair took on."

"Then why did you come here?" Megumi asked him, her hand moving back down to her side, letting go of her hold on his bangs.

Sanosuke gave her a perplexed look as if he couldn't believe she had just asked him that. And he couldn't. He thought it was pretty obvious why he came back to Tokyo, to the clinic, to her, yet somehow he found that Megumi was pretty serious about her question. She really didn't know why he came back.

"Well, I thought that much was obvious," Sanosuke replied with a scratch of his head, "I came back for you, of course. I came back to finish off what we started. Don't you remember this?" Sano raised his left hand, displaying the identical twin silver ring to her own and it flashed brightly against the few rays of sunlight that shone through the window. Megumi watched it shimmer as he wiggled his fingers in front of her and she bit her lip, remembering how she had found hers earlier that very day. "You do remember this, don't you?"

"I remember," Megumi said as she watched him try and take the ring off his finger and she gave him a quizzical look, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to show you that I can't get it off. I've worn it so long, it kinda got stuck to me, I guess," Sanosuke shrugged, "Not that I'd try and take it off anyway. It grew on me, just like you did. Six whole years is a long time, you know."

"Yes, I couldn't agree with you more," Megumi added and she sat up from the bed to look at him. This was it. She had to tell him, she had to tell him now, and if he was ready to hear it or not, she just had to let him know. "Six years is a long time. Long enough for things to change and for big things to happen. You can't just put the world on hold and start it up again whenever you feel like it, you just can't do that."

"What do you mean?" Sanosuke asked, his hand dropping dully to his side as he heard again the familiar words he had just listened to from Kaoru. He hated repetition.

"Sanosuke, this is like you're coming back from the dead. I thought you were gone from this life, I never thought you'd be... here.. again. And all so suddenly, you appear out of nowhere and just think everything would fall right back into place. Yes, six years is a very long time indeed, and so many things have happened since then," Megumi continued, trying her best to explain herself.

"Like what?" Sanosuke asked, standing up from the edge of the bed and he towered over her like a rooster to its chick. Megumi opened her mouth to answer, but she was cut off when the door flew open and someone ran inside.

"Mommy!" a small boy cried as he ran over to where Sanosuke and Megumi stood and the lady doctor automatically got up from her seat to kneel onto the floor with her arms outstretched.

The boy ran over to her as if it were but second nature to him and launched himself into her open arms, talking excitedly about his day and whatever other happy chatter was cut off from Sanosuke's brain as he felt his heart tighten as he watched the whole shocking ordeal.

"Hey you!" Megumi practically purred, kissing her son on his forehead before pulling him out of her embrace so she could place her hands on his tiny shoulders, "Did you behave yourself at your Uncle Yahiko's today?"

"Yes, Mom," he replied with a curt nod of his head, his dark hair bobbing up and down as he did so, "Uncle Yahiko said I was getting a lot better at sword practice and everything! He said when I'm a few years older he can give me a better sword than that wooden stick!"

Sano followed the direction that the boy had just pointed and turned to the doorway to find a small wooden bokken on the floor that the boy must have dropped on his way in. Sanosuke would have smiled at the thought of Yahiko teaching him swordsmanship if he hadn't been so caught up with the fact that Megumi had a child.

"Oh really? That's great, Suzuki!" Megumi exclaimed and she lifted her son up from the ground and settled him onto her hip as she turned to Sanosuke, "Suzuki, I want you to meet one of Mommy's close friends. His name is Mr. Sagara. Can you say hello?"

"Hiya Mister!" Suzuki exclaimed as he stared up at Sanosuke with sparkling cinnamon eyes, completely identical to his mother's and Sanosuke smiled at him.

"Hey," Sanosuke said to him with a raise of his head. It was the only thing he could think of appropriate enough to say to Megumi's son.

Before coming to Tokyo, Sanosuke had thought up everything he was going to say to Megumi over and over again in his mind, but his mind had all of a sudden gone completely blank. Sano was about to say more when Megumi turned to her son with a stern look.

"Suzuki! That's not how you properly introduce yourself to someone," Megumi said as she shifted her weight to the other foot to support her son on her hip, "Now, why don't you try that again, but do it right this time."

"But Mom!" Suzuki protested, but he stopped his whining by the sideways glance he received from his mother and he reluctantly gave up, "Okay, okay..." Suzuki turned in Sanosuke's direction and put out his hand for him to shake, the comparison of their hands in size fairly different. "Hello, Mr. Sagara. My name is Suzuki. It's nice to meet you." The boy's voice was almost like monotone, like he was programmed to say it or actually, trained, but he said it like he meant it and Sano smiled and shook his tiny little hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Suzuki," Sanosuke answered and the boy returned the warm smile, and Megumi nodded her head in approval, "So, you take good care of your mom?"

"Yeah! I squash all the spiders in the house!" Suzuki announced with pride, making both adults burst out laughing and Suzuki frowned, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, Sweetheart," Megumi replied as she calmed down and wiped away a happy tear from the corner of her eye, "Why don't you go outside and play now, alright?"

"Okay! Can Kenji come over and play too? He's out in front waiting for me," Suzuki stated and he pointed out the window to the mini-Kenshin sitting on the steps, "See! He's right there!"

"Yes, I see him. Okay, go have fun, but stay where I can see you," Megumi said as she set the boy down on the ground and he practically bounced off the walls with his energy.

"I will!" he called over his shoulder and the screen door slammed behind him as he ran out to the front yard and helped Kenji up from his seat on the stairs. His voice was heard from outside as Sanosuke and Megumi heard him talking with Kenji about what they should play. Diligently, they watched the boys run around the yard from the nearby window, laughing and jumping about for all their worth.

"He's your son, huh?" Sanosuke asked, jamming his hands into his pockets again and he nodded toward Suzuki, who was now swinging his bokken around at Kenji, pure happiness evident on his youthful face. Megumi didn't even turn to him when she answered, still watching her son play in the front yard as she smiled and nodded.

"Uh huh. He's my little angel," Megumi said proudly, folding her arms over her chest, "a little stubborn angel sometimes, but still my baby."

Sanosuke nodded, an awkward feeling he wasn't used to finding its way into the room and into his soul and he leaned against the window for support. He had never expected Megumi would have a child, needless to say an older child. Suzuki looked to be about five or so years old and Sanosuke had only left her six years ago, meaning that Megumi had quickly moved on after he was gone. His mouth suddenly went dry as he searched for something appropriate to say other than accusing her of being unfaithful.

"He has your eyes," Sanosuke said finally, remembering the similarity between the color and shape of mother and son's, "They're the same color as yours."

"I think that's all he got from me," she replied pleasantly, hugging herself with her arms, even though the temperature in the clinic was already warm for the afternoon. She continued looking out the window, "Everything else he got from his father. I swear, he gets more like him everyday."

Sanosuke said nothing, only nodded his head to show he was listening and Megumi hugged herself tighter. She had no idea it would be this hard. She needed time to prepare, but time was something she didn't have. It had to be now.

"It's kind of funny how much he admires him even though for all five years and ten months of his life, he never even saw his face..." Megumi said solemnly and Sanosuke looked away from the boys outside to stare at her.

"He never met his father before?" Sanosuke asked, his arm still leaning against the brim of the window and he squinted his eyes towards her to focus on her face despite the sun rays that parried his vision.

"Not until recently," Megumi replied, her bright eyes showing a hint of something Sano didn't really comprehend and he raised his eyebrows at her in confusion. If he knew Megumi at all, this was one of those 'read-between-the-lines-dealies that Sanosuke wasn't too good at. Megumi sighed at his slow thinking and continued talking.

"He asks me lots of things about his father. Mostly little random things like, 'Did Daddy ever go here?' or 'Did Daddy like this?' He never asks me any of the important stuff about his past or things like that. He usually asks Sir Ken, or Yahiko, or sometimes Kaoru, about the more personal things. I guess he thinks that asking me will hurt my feelings. He's always been compassionate like that..." Megumi took a quick glance in Sanosuke's direction and finding his attention was solely on her, she continued, "He likes to dress like his father too. He'll pick things out at the market that resemble his father's clothes and I actually think that's what he's aiming for. It drives me nuts sometimes at how much Suzuki reminds me of him."

"So then, is his father around? I think I'd like to shake the hand of the SOB that fathered that kid," Sanosuke said, turning his body to fully face her, "Whoever the guy is, he's really lucky."

"I'm glad you think so," Megumi agreed with a nod and she licked her lips, trying to get the moisture back into her mouth that now felt like it was stuffed with cotton, "He actually... showed up on my doorstep today and surprised me."

'If he doesn't get this, he's really as chicken-headed as I first thought,' Megumi thought to herself and she watched his expression, waiting to see his reaction.

"Wow, looks like you've been having a lot of unexpected guests today then, huh?" Sano murmured dumbly, making Megumi sweatdrop at his obliviousness, "So who is he anyway? Do I know him?"

Megumi sighed and she frustratingly rubbed her throbbing temples.

"Yes, you know him. Quite well in fact. You know him like no one else does," Megumi stated, as bluntly as she could in hopes that he would catch her hint, but Sanosuke only tilted his head to the side, still confused.

Losing her patience, Megumi grabbed his hand but paused only a second later, realizing that she had just touched him, the first physical contact she had had with him since the day he left and she looked down at her hand holding his. Pushing back the old shock waves that racked her entire body, Megumi shook herself before she looked him straight in the eye, knowing that the only way he would understand would be to tell him straight out.

"Sanosuke, you are Suzuki's father."

Sanosuke stood completely still, his breathing coming to a halt and he felt his heart stop beating. For a few brief seconds, he imagined he was dead, floating off in some dream land between earth and the clouds, and until his breath slowly came back, did the five worded phrase finally sink in.

To make matters even more intense, Megumi repeated herself. But she did not have to say it again, he had heard her loud and clear the first time and her words continued to echo throughout his ears, jumbling up all his thoughts and knowledge of what he thought his life was made up of, only to find that he knew very little. His whole reflection of just who he found himself to be barely covered even half of what he really amounted to.

Sanosuke had always contemplated whether he was Sanosuke Sagara, or Zanza, Fighter for hire, and somehow another name had mingled its way into his list of identities. That name being the most drastic: Suzuki's father.

Sanosuke stumbled backwards, falling down into the chair behind him with a loud thud, but it was doubtful of whether he even noticed. In fact, Megumi figured that if she had put a doctor syringe on the seat and Sanosuke sat upon it, he would not have even winced. However, Sanosuke's pensive thoughts were so suddenly interrupted by Suzuki and Kenji at the door again, Kenji limping on his left leg and his arm around Suzuki's neck as he helped him walk. Sanosuke looked up from where he had placed his face in his hands and stared at the boy that was not only Megumi's son, but also his.

He had no idea why he hadn't seen it before: the dark spikes of his hair, the strong bridge of his nose, the pointed edge of his chin. The boy looked just like he did when he was his age. It was like looking into a mirror of the past.

"Oh my, what happened?" Megumi asked, going directly into protective-mom mode as she slipped away from her old lover and her doctor instincts took over. She kneeled over by Kenji and Suzuki, concern wavering in her eyes. "Are you two okay?"

"I'm fine, but Kenji was running and he slipped and fell. He scraped his knee pretty bad," Suzuki answered and he followed his mother over to the table while Kenji took a seat in a nearby chair.

A few moments later, Megumi returned with some cleaning alcohol, cotton swabs, and some bandages and she knelt down to inspect Kenji's wound, wiping away the blood with a warm towel.

"Okay, Kenji, it doesn't look too bad, but we're gonna have to put some alcohol on it so it won't get infected, okay? Now this might hurt a little," Megumi warned and she inched towards his knee with the alcohol-doused cotton. The cotton barely brushed against his wound when Kenji yelped in pain.

"Owwy! That hurts, Auntie Megumi!" Kenji cried, the corners of his eyes brimming with tears and Suzuki put a supportive arm around his friend and asked him if he was going to cry, "No! I'm not gonna cry! Big boys don't cry!"

Even if his words were strong, his voice didn't exactly go along with them. Kenji's eyes still squirmed with tears, but Suzuki thought it best to pretend he didn't see them and he quickly changed the subject to spare his friend humiliation.

"Hey Mom... what's for dinner?" Suzuki asked, not aware that he sounded exactly like his father when he said this and Sanosuke finally got up from his chair to watch them in the doorway and he smiled, seeing his son in an entirely different light rather than just 'Megumi's kid.'

"Well, let's see... How about some catfish?" Megumi suggested as she continued to blow on the still stinging wound on Kenji's knee that he claimed hurt more than the actual scrape itself.

"Alright!" Suzuki shouted, punching his fist in the air and he smiled at his mother, "When did you go to the market and buy catfish?"

"I didn't," Megumi replied calmly as she doused another cotton ball with alcohol and prepared to use it on Kenji's injury while Suzuki looked at her with a 'Huh?!' expression, "I didn't go to the market and buy catfish. That's great that you want some though, the fishing pole is out back. Ohohohoho!" Familiar fox ears popped up from the sides of her head and everyone in the room sweatdropped.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Suzuki shouted in protest as everyone laughed, "You tricked me! That's not fair at all!"

Kenji giggled gleefully at his friend's discomfort and while he was distracted with teasing Suzuki, Megumi quickly cleaned off the rest of his cut with the alcohol without Kenji even noticing. After Suzuki left the room, grumbling under his breath while he headed over to get the fishing pole, Kenji turned to Megumi.

"Are you gonna use that stingy stuff again, Auntie Megumi?"

"I already did while you were laughing," she said with a smile and Kenji looked surprised, then suddenly puffed out his chest in pride of his 'bravery.' The entire chest-puffing charade did not go unnoticed and Megumi smiled. "You, Kenji, are getting to be a very brave young man."

The boy practically beamed and Sanosuke covered his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. At that moment, Suzuki came back into the room, a fishing pole over his shoulder and the box of bait in his hands. The package came complete with a tiny scowl on his face.

"I'm gonna go get the fish now then..." Suzuki grumbled with a roll of his eyes and his mom flashed him an innocent smile, "You coming too, Kenji? What about you, Mr. Sagara?"

"You three go have fun fishing and I'll stay here and clean up," Megumi enjoined and she stood up from her kneeling position, "Go on now! The fish are probably waiting for you to draw them in and eat them!"

"Riiiiiight, Mom," Suzuki said with a grin and he waved, "Bye! Come on, guys, let's go. I bet you those fish'll get tired of waitin' for us!"

"I'll be there in a sec!" Sanosuke called after the two small boys and they nodded and ran off into the direction of the river. With Kenji and Suzuki out of the room, Sanosuke turned to Megumi and smiled. "Thank you."

"For what?" Megumi asked curiously, thinking of what she could have possibly done for him that she could not recall.

"For giving me my son," Sanosuke earnestly replied and he turned around to leave, giving her a wave before he walked out the door, "We'll be right back!"

Megumi nodded at his disappearing figure, memorizing the sign of 'Wicked' still engraved on the back of his gi, and she turned over to the chair he had been sitting in and picked up the green cloak he had been wearing over it earlier. Sighing, she brought it out with her to the bucket in the backyard with the rest of the laundry.

'Now why does this seem so awfully familiar?' Megumi thought with a smile as she leisurely placed the dirty old cloak in the laundry tub and began scrubbing out the dirt and grime of Sanosuke's journey around the world and back.

~

"So how do you know my mom, Mr. Sagara?" Suzuki asked from Sanosuke's left, Kenji following him on the right as he strode over to the river holding on to Suzuki's fishing pole. Sano paused for a minute, thinking of how he should answer his question, and suddenly wishing he had a fishbone in his mouth so he didn't feel so awkward.

"Uh... Me and your mom were close friends a while back before you were born," Sanosuke stated after a moment, playing it safe as he was careful not to mention his real relationship status with the foxy doctor, "I'm also friends with your Uncle Yahiko, Auntie Kaoru, and Uncle Kenshin too."

"Wow, so that means you must've known my dad then, huh?" Suzuki asked. Sanosuke couldn't help but take note of how Suzuki's eyes sparkled at the idea of his father.

"Yeah, did you know Suzuki's dad, Mr. Sagara?" Kenji asked as well, both pairs of anxious little eyes staring up at him as if he was some kind of mythological hero.

"Yeah, I knew him. Pretty well actually," Sanosuke replied, putting his hands back into his pockets again like he usually did, "He's a really cool guy, your dad."

"Hey, you little runt," a voice came from the left.

Disturbed by the rude name and interruption, Sanosuke turned in the direction of the voice to find a tall glowering man a few feet away. He hadn't even noticed him until then and he watched with curious eyes as the man directed his gaze towards Suzuki, one eye almost all white and the other practically pitch black. "What trouble are you getting yourself into now?"

"I told you not to call me that!" Suzuki growled at the man, baring his teeth like a dog ready to bite, "And I'm not getting into trouble! I'm going out fishing to get dinner for my mom!"

"Whatever you say, you little runt," the man said again, a horrible sneer on his face and Suzuki gripped the bokken behind his back, but Sanosuke's steady hand on his shoulder stopped him from bringing it forward. "What? Go ahead, let the little runt hit me! If he can hit anything with that little stick..."

Sanosuke didn't know why, but the man stirred up the blood in his veins. Not just because of the way he dared to call his son 'a little runt,' but there was something else that gave Sanosuke the chills when he saw him. Besides the strange color of his eyes, Sanosuke was positive he had seen something like that before, one white and one nearly ebony, but his memory was boggled by the anger he felt for the complete stranger before him. The man looked strangely familiar, but he couldn't exactly put his finger on where he'd seen him before.

"Alright, I have no idea who the hell you think you are, but you gotta know when to shut up. Suzuki asked you not to call him that plenty of times before 'cause he's a patient guy, but..." Sanosuke paused, cracking his knuckles, "I'm not."

The man critically looked over Sanosuke from head to toe, scrutinizing the way his clothes fit loosely over his body and the smudges of dirt over his face. It was obvious that he could stand little to no chance against him if fists began flying so to avoid confrontation, the man grunted a reply. He then turned on his heel to walk away, rolling his different colored eyes as if Sanosuke was merely a bothersome fly that could easily be ignored.

"Patience is a virtue, whoever you are, but obviously a person like you wouldn't know that," he said with a huff and he began walking away from three very angry males that would've just loved to bang his head into the nearest brick wall. "Oh, Suzuki," he continued without even so much as turning around, "the next time you go looking for some friends, make sure they have some manners." And with that, the man left, his back completely turned to them, blocking their angry glares aiming straight for his heart.

When he was out of hearing distance, Suzuki and Kenji pulled their necks back and thrust forward, sticking their tongues out at the rude speck in the distance with a big, "Phhhbbbttt!" sound.

"I really hate that guy," Kenji muttered as they finally reached the river side and took a seat on the dry side of the bank, "He's mean."

"I know, Tetsu's such a jerk," Suzuki agreed as he flung the fishing line into the water and sprung some back, "But try telling that to my mom..."

At the mention of Megumi, Sanosuke looked up from where he had lain himself down on the grass with his hands behind his head and he straightened himself to look at Suzuki.

"What does that big turd have to do with your mom?" Sanosuke asked, worry evident on his face and both Kenji and Suzuki turned to him with bewildered looks, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You didn't know? I thought that was why you came here in the first place," Suzuki said with furrowed eyebrows, "Didn't you come to see Mommy and Tetsu's wedding?"

"WHAT?! That jerk-off is gonna marry your mom?!" Sanosuke asked frantically, his eyes darting back and forth in panic, "Wha... why? Why would she do that?"

"I dunno. She doesn't see what a big loser he is, I guess," Suzuki said with a shrug of his shoulders, "Tetsu's always nice to me when Mommy's around, but when she's not in the room, he turns really mean. He treats Mommy really nice though, but I still think he's a big poopy-head."

"Yeah, he can be mean to my daddy too!" Kenji added as he hooked a worm onto the sharp end of his fishing line, "and he can be rude to my mommy. He says her cooking is really bad and he calls me a brat. I don't like him at all. His eyes kinda scare me. Auntie Megumi should just marry someone else 'cause... 'cause even my mommy and daddy say Tetsu's not right for her."

"And you guys agree with them?" Sanosuke asked, leaning back against the tree and after both young boys nodded their heads vigorously, Sanosuke mustered up a tiny smile, "Yeah, me too... So what were we talking about before that big turd interrupted us?"

"We were talking about Suzuki's dad," Kenji replied and Suzuki's face automatically brightened at the mention of his father, his cinnamon brown eyes twinkling with golden cast stars.

"Yeah! Hey, I have a question," Suzuki said, turning his attention away from the river for a second so he could look at Sanosuke leaning against the tree, "it's about my daddy..."

"Shoot," Sano replied with his eyes closed, getting comfortable in his seat as he placed his hands behind his head as a pillow.

"Is it true my dad mastered the Futae-No-Kiwami in only one week when it took that one big monk guy a whole month?!" Suzuki asked excitedly and Kenji jumped to his side with an enthusiastic smile as well, eager anticipation practically dripping from his voice.

"Yeah! Is it true, Mr. Sagara?!" Kenji backed up, making the older man open one eye to look from one anxious face to the other and he nodded his head.

"Yup, it's true," Sanosuke said and both five year old's turned and looked at each other at the same time with amazed expressions.

"WOW!" they both exclaimed in disbelief, "That's so cool!"

Sanosuke's ego practically skyrocketed to the heavens.





A/N: The plot thickens... leave a review if you wanna know more. This was kind of a comic relief chapter before the more serious stuff. There'll still be a few more funny parts, but not a lot. This story kinda shows the different types of writing I can do besides comedy. Pretty soon I'm gonna have to change the rating of this story to R so if you don't see it in PG-13 anymore, you know where to find it.