Chapter 3:

"Like Fire To Ice"





The hours flew by like minutes as the three bonded over their attempts at catching dinner and soon it had become dark. As they ventured back towards the clinic, they caught sight of Tetsu on his way out, heading over to his own home a mile or two away.

Sanosuke met the man's eyes as they passed by each other on the lawn and held it as if turning away would imply surrender and neither man wanted to imply anything of that sort. The exchange of glowering ended when Megumi called to her son from the porch and both new and old fiancé turned away and continued in opposite directions. If the evening had not been so grimly quiet, Sanosuke would not have heard what Tetsu whispered to him.

"Have fun with your son today, Sagara?" Tetsu practically spat under his breath.

Sanosuke continued walking towards where Kenji, Suzuki, and Megumi now stood at the door, talking excitedly about the day's catch. Sanosuke's hands tightened his fists in his pockets, resisting the temptation to strangle him. Tetsu was a complete stranger but that didn't matter at all to Sanosuke; the guy was still ranking pretty high on his most-hated-persons list.

How Tetsu knew that Suzuki was his son, Sanosuke had no idea. There was no way Megumi had told Tetsu about their old engagement, that was for sure. She had too much pride for that and she was too smart to reveal their intimate past to her potential future. She had obviously seen their disgruntled meeting coming and had attempted to avert the situation from danger as best she could. But it hadn't seemed to fool Tetsu at all because deep down, Sanosuke could tell that Tetsu knew a whole lot more than he let on.

After dropping off Suzuki at the clinic and saying good-night to mother and son, Sanosuke and Kenji continued down the road to the Kamiya dojo with the bucket of catfish in hand. They had let Suzuki take the biggest fish and he had let them take the two smaller ones.

With any luck, Sanosuke figured that bringing dinner for everyone at the dojo would be his way to apologize to Kaoru for the argument that morning. And besides that, he had some major kissing up to do if he wanted a free place to stay for the night. The clinic was simply out of the question.

All the nights he had stayed up waiting, waiting and wishing that he could come home and live the life he left behind was all gone to waste now. All that wishing amounted to nothing. It seemed that all those times he had been caught up with dreams of being with Megumi, she had been caught up with creating new dreams without him.

Suzuki had kindly offered him one of the empty patient rooms to stay in for the night, but Sanosuke declined. It was not Suzuki's choice to invite him to stay or not, it was Megumi's, and Sano knew that having to sleep in the room next to hers would not only be awkward for them both but it would also be impeccably terrible for him. Knowing that the woman he loved was just beyond a few layers of lumber would be torture for any man. He doubted he would sleep at all or if he wanted to, for that matter. All he would do is dream of her.

~

"Kenji! Where on earth have you been?!" Kaoru practically screeched as she saw her son walk in through the dojo's entrance. After many long hours of worrying about his whereabouts, she had been on the brink of insanity, but her anger suddenly faltered as she realized that Sanosuke accompanied him. "Sano? You're still here? I thought you left sometime this afternoon."

"I left the dojo, not the city," Sanosuke replied and he held the bucket high above his head, "I hope you're in the mood for catfish."

Kaoru smiled in return to the nice gesture, completely forgetting about her previous hostility towards her son as she picked up both the bucket and Kenji and took them inside.

"Come on in, Sanosuke," Kaoru called from inside once she noticed he hadn't followed like he usually did and he entered the room with an appreciative smile. She barely noticed as Kenji skipped over to where his father was and he watched Kenshin as he put the food on the stove to cook for dinner.

Kaoru peered at Sanosuke as he continued to stand in the doorway, his hands jut deep in his pockets as if waiting for something and he turned to look at her to prove her previous theory.

"You can sit down now if you want," Kaoru offered, growing steadily curious about the new courteous Sanosuke that had entered her home and she turned to Kenshin for an explanation, but her husband was busy frying the catfish in the kitchen. Still as confused as ever, Kaoru turned back to him with new eyes and a different point of view.

"You know, maybe you have changed from that unappreciative free-loader I used to know, Sanosuke. You seem to have learned a few manners while you were away for so long. Waiting for permission to come inside, waiting until I offered you a seat, bringing dinner to the host's house... Is this your way of apologizing for this morning?"

"That and because I kinda... need a place to stay..." Sanosuke admitted with a sheepish grin, his hand casually going back behind his head as it usually did when he was trying to act innocent and Kaoru sweat dropped, her smile drooping down to a glum expression.

"I should've known there was a catch..." she muttered and Sanosuke scratched his head while he let out a nervous laugh, "I'm guessing you found out why you can't stay at the clinic then, right?" At his nod, Kaoru sighed and she sunk down lower into the tatami mat beneath her.

"Sano... if you had arrived a little sooner then it wouldn't have turned out like this. Maybe if you had come back in July, before they were engaged, then maybe it would've worked," Kaoru murmured softly as she drummed her nails against the table top to bring some kind of sound in the room to lessen the awkward silence, "I don't know what Megumi sees in him. But I suppose that's her business."

"Suzuki doesn't like him," Sanosuke stated bluntly, interrupting Kaoru's rambling that she aimed to be a pep talk. Really, it was only making him feel worse. He would've been grateful for the encouragement if it had actually worked the way it was supposed to, but he knew her intentions were good. Still, it didn't change the fact that he didn't like hearing he was too late. "How long... have they been engaged?"

"About three months now," Kaoru replied as she took a sip of her tea, "it would've been four, but Megumi took a month to consider his proposal before she said yes. I don't know whether or not the delay in her decision had anything to do with you." Kaoru stole a glance at him from over her cup. "They met when she went back to Aizu two years ago after she found her brother. Apparently he had survived the fire and had been searching for her for a while. So, he sent for her to come to Aizu and see him for a little while and when she came back here, Tetsu came with her. They hadn't been in a relationship then, but Tetsu was always trying to develop one. I think one time, she just gave in and went to dinner with him so he'd leave her alone, but then they started seeing each other." Kaoru paused.

"I've never seen them kiss."

"Never?" Sanosuke asked curiously and Kaoru nodded.

"Never. She doesn't really talk about Tetsu either and I don't ever want to, so we just... don't," Kaoru sighed as she finished off the last drop of tea in her cup, "Suzuki likes to talk about him when she's not around. He never told her about how Tetsu treats him when she's not there and I don't think he's planning on it. That son of yours is always looking out for her, you know. He always is. I don't think he realizes that it would be all for the best if he just let her know about the whole Tetsu thing."

"He doesn't want to hurt her," Sanosuke said, his chin resting in his hand as he contemplated the situation between Tetsu and Megumi, "he thinks she's happy and he doesn't wanna take that away from her."

"But she's not!" Kaoru protested with a slam of her fist, startling Sanosuke and even herself with her harsh rebuttal. She took a deep breath before continuing. "She's not happy with him, Sano. We all know she isn't. And you know it too, don't you...?"

"You know what too?" Yahiko asked as he entered the room where his friends sat and he settled down next to a pensive Sanosuke, "Um... did I come in at a bad time?"

"Actually..." Kaoru began but was cut off as Sano's head came up and he took a glance at the newcomer.

"Since when did you grow up?" Sanosuke asked curiously as he looked the tall teenager up and down, "Now we can't call you Little Yahiko anymore! What's the Missy been feeding you? Jolly Green Giants?" Yahiko laughed and shook his head.

"Nope, actually, I haven't had Ugly's cooking for a while now since Tsubame's is a whole lot better," Yahiko said, ignoring the angry glare Kaoru shot him from her opposite side of the table, "I just stopped by 'cause I heard you came back today and I had to see it for myself. I came by earlier, but Kenshin said you left again."

"Yeah, I went to go see the Fox," Sanosuke said, feeling very awkward for having such a civilized conversation with the small brat next to him that had so suddenly turned into a man, "Today's just been full of surprises... I ran into mini-Kenshin this morning, I found out Megumi's engaged to someone else, I got to meet my son, and I was able to catch tonight's dinner. It's been one hell of a 'Welcome home' party..."

Yahiko nodded silently, not exactly sure of how to address the situation of Megumi's new engagement. He knew that if he had been in Sanosuke's shoes and his Tsubame had been pledged to another, he wouldn't be able to handle it. Yahiko had no idea how Sanosuke was able to just sit around, sip tea, talk with old friends, and not try to beat Tetsu to a pulp like he expected him to. The old Sano would be doing just that.

No one said anything after that.

The drumming of Kaoru's fingernails hitting the table and the sound of food frying in the background took up all the sounds of the night, quieting even the crickets outside. Although Sanosuke was completely silent and it seemed as though he had a good grip on the situation, he was screaming inside.

~

"And they lived happily ever after... The end."

Megumi sat comfortably on the edge of her son's futon, a small story book in her hands opened up to the last page. She closed it.

"Good night, Suzuki," Megumi whispered as she gently pressed her lips to his forehead and she lovingly traced her hand over his cheek and waited for him to close his eyes. But he didn't. Not for a long time. Concerned, Megumi gave him a worried expression. "What's wrong, Angel? Are you not sleepy yet?"

"Mom..." Suzuki began, his tiny hands twisting the white sheets around his chest as he looked down at the covers to avoid her questioning gaze, "Can I... can I ask you something? Like, anything?"

"Of course," Megumi said as she smoothed back a lock of brown hair that fell over his eyes, "you can ask me anything that's on your mind. Is there something bothering you?"

"Um... kind of..." Suzuki murmured, twisting the blanket tighter in his hands, "I was just thinking about Daddy... What's he like? Is he like Tetsu or Uncle Yahiko? Or Uncle Kenshin?"

Megumi sighed and smiling, she shook her head.

"Your father? No, he's not like Tetsu at all," Megumi said as she got more comfortable in her seat, "he is a very different breed of person then him. Tetsu is like... ice, sometimes really cold, but soothing. And your father... your father is more like fire. He can makes you feel really warm and comforted, but if you're not careful, you could get burnt. Does that make sense at all?"

"Not really," Suzuki replied as he pulled the covers up closer to his face, hiding his entire body from the neck down, "So Daddy was warm? Like a blanket?" Suzuki held up his as an example and Megumi smiled at his literal thinking.

"Not quite, honey, not that kind of warm," Megumi said as she set the blanket back down over his body to keep out the cold, "more like... a warmth in your heart. Not like the temperature, but actually inside. Right here." Megumi pointed at the right side of Suzuki's chest. "You see, you feel it right here in your heart. When you're near him, it's like all the cold in the world couldn't get to you. That's what your father is like. You might not understand it now, but I think that's what love feels like."

"Is Tetsu warm too, Mommy?" Suzuki asked curiously, "Can you feel him in your heart too?"

"Tetsu...? Ice isn't warm, Suzuki, it's always cold or it's not ice anymore," Megumi explained, speaking metaphorically so she wouldn't have to give her son a straight yes or no answer to his personal question.

"Do you miss being warm, Mommy?" Suzuki asked suddenly, becoming more daring with his questions, "Do you miss Daddy?"

"Um... Suzuki.... why are you asking me this all of a sudden?" Megumi asked as she hid her trembling hands in the folds of her nightgown, again avoiding the questions that scratched away at her mind and pushed past the threshold of what she was still trying to escape from for six long years.

"I just... well..." Suzuki stuttered, stumbling over his words as he tried to word it all right and make sense of all the things running through his head, "Auntie Kaoru and Uncle Kenshin said that Tetsu wasn't the right 'one' for you. Kenji told me so. They said that you wouldn't be happy with him as your husband and as my new daddy. And Kenji thinks so too and Uncle Yahiko and even Mr. Sagara... I don't think you should marry him, Mommy."

Megumi was silent for a moment as she continued brushing back her son's hair as she thought over his words:

'Auntie Kaoru and Uncle Kenshin said that Tetsu wasn't the right 'one' for you... And Kenji thinks so too and Uncle Yahiko and even Mr. Sagara... I don't think you should marry him, Mommy...'

Megumi bit her lip as she thought the last sentence over again, a deep empty feeling in the pit of her stomach suddenly opening so wide she thought she would fall into it at any given second. Remembering that her son was still watching her, Megumi turned to face him, plastering a fake smile on her face as she looked down into his face, so unbelievably identical to his father's.

"You don't want Mommy to marry Tetsu?" she asked him, leaning over the bed's edge to look for the honestly in his eyes that he had inherited from her and she didn't even wait for him to answer before she spoke again, "Are you worried about getting a new daddy?" At Suzuki's enterprising nodding of his head, Megumi smiled. "And just who do you want me to marry then, Suzuki?"

"You should marry Mr. Sagara, Mommy," Suzuki said, his innocent loving smile coming over his face and dancing upon his lips, "he was really worried when he found out you and Tetsu are getting married. He got kind of upset. And he doesn't think Tetsu's the right one for you either. I think he likes you, Mommy."

Without a word, Megumi got up from her seat on the edge of his bed, nodding her head at her son to show that she heard him and she wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to push away the chills that ran up her spine.

'It all just has to be coincidence,' she reasoned, 'just all a big coincidence... He doesn't know what he's saying...'

Turning back to him, Megumi gave her son one last weary smile before sliding the shoji door to his room behind her, hot tears springing to her eyes as she shut the door behind her.

She was only able to walk a few feet down the hall from his room before she couldn't stand it any longer and she stumbled over her feet. Gasping, her hand flew to her mouth to muffle the tiny whimper that raised from the back of her throat. Her breathing was heavy and shallow, almost hyperventilating, as she leaned her back against the nearby wall. Slowly, her legs gave way beneath her, no longer capable of keeping herself standing upright and she crumpled to the floor.

Curling into a tiny little ball, she tried to drown out her sobs by burying her face in her knees, but it did little to conceal them as they grew more intense, more pained. As Suzuki's words continued to circulate in her mind, fresh tears formed a puddle on the floor.

Megumi didn't even try to hide the sounds of her cries anymore as the sadness became unbearable and they echoed through the dark hallway of the clinic. Her entire body was trembling uncontrollably on the floor, her hands gripping the tatami mat underneath her.

Suzuki in his room, tossed and turned in his bed, wondering why his mommy was crying.






A/N: Aww... Suzuki's playing mind games with her and he doesn't even know it... Well, the story gets a lot more interesting after this chapter, especially since Sano and Megumi are gonna have a little late night chat. Don't miss it! And don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think!