Chapter 8:

"Megumi's Instincts"

Late. They were going to be late and Megumi knew it. In about an hour, she and Suzuki were going to meet up with everyone at the dojo and then head over to the Akabeko for dinner, but she was here, still seated at her desk at the clinic, organizing some medical papers for some of the patients she saw earlier that day.

As expected, her patients had all asked her about her injuries and to everyone, she had given them the same excuse. 'I slipped in the tub a few days ago,' she always told them and they would all nod their heads like a bunch of robots, too scared to tell her to her face that they knew she was lying.

It angered her that they couldn't stand up to her, that they couldn't tell her exactly what was running through their heads, that they were all exactly the same. She wanted somebody to demand that she tell them the truth, to force her into telling them all about Tetsu, then she could rid herself of the heavy weight atop her shoulders that she was obliged to carry for God knows how long. Sanosuke had come close to doing just that and she, like an idiot, had almost given in. But Megumi had caught herself at the last minute, finding her logical reason for not telling anyone, remembering the horrible threat that Tetsu had promised he would do to her son. But she wanted to tell him, so much that it hurt.

Megumi shook her head. She didn't want to think about that. Not now, not ever, but somehow, it was always the first thing that happened to enter her mind every second of every day. It didn't help that she couldn't tell anyone what was on her mind and slowly, ever so slowly, it was driving her mad.

What was happening to her? She used to be so strong, will-powered, brave, independent, and spirited, but now she was what she had feared she would become again. She was a woman afraid of a man. After her time at Kanryu's mansion, Megumi had become deathly afraid of men, and who could blame her? All men that worked for him, or worse, were him, didn't care whether she lived or died, whether she was well or sick; they didn't give a damn about her. Only as much as Kanryu would pay to take care of her. If you could even call it care. Once being saved from that wicked man's wrath and the treachery of opium, Megumi had promised herself that she would never become that frightened woman again and so, she had put up barriers, summed up her courage and learned to look people straight in the eye. Now, with even the tiniest thought of Tetsu, Megumi's eyes would grow weary and wide and they would dart from side to side to see if he was around to hurt her again.

'Why? Why is this happening to me....?' Megumi thought to herself. She sniffled, wiping the back of her hand against her nose, and she propped her elbows down onto the table and dropped her head down into her hands. She covered her eyes, letting the clear drops of tears run down her cheeks. Abruptly, frustrated with herself for crying yet again, Megumi brushed away the tears, knocking over the prodigious stack of papers she had just finished organizing and they all fluttered to the floor.

Megumi cursed aloud for her wasted effort at arranging them and she kneeled down to the ground to pick them up, mumbling under her breath some more about her clumsiness and lack of attention. Picking up about a dozen papers at a time, she began placing them back onto her desk, trying her best to keep it all as neat as possible when one particular paper caught her eye.

Curious, Megumi dropped the small pile of medical files she had in her hand and bent down to pick up the off-white colored composition by her feet. Lifting it up to her face, her hand immediately flew to cover her mouth, a small gasp finding it's way between the cracks of her fingers as she read the top line of the paper. It read:

Hideki Kajima's Will

'The magistrate's will...' Megumi thought to herself, her bruised hand still covering her open mouth, 'but what is it doing here? It wasn't here before... It's not mine and it's certainly not Suzuki's... Tetsu sometimes leaves some of his things here in my office but, what would he be doing with Hideki Kajima's will?'

The will was addressed to Hideki Kajima's son, Kurotara Kajima, leaving him all the money the judge owned as well as all his possessions. Reading on, Megumi found a tiny message at the bottom written by the magistrate himself to his son.

"It's an apology letter..." Megumi gasped and she read aloud the entire message as if reading it silently would lessen her chances of understanding it, "Dear Kurotara, I know you must hate me for what I have done and I find myself hating me as well. I know that you will find a good wife, one better than the former girl. Take with you all of my belongings as a favor to me. If you do not wish to accept these things, then please accept my apologies. I am sorry for not being understanding of your love for Satomi and I am sorry for not being the father you wish you had. I hope that in time, you might forgive me for my stupidity and I hope that someday, you might be proud to say that Hideki Kajima was your father..."

Megumi finished reading the letter, feeling extremely guilty for having seen such a personal message meant only for the judge's son to see, but she still couldn't help but wonder how Tetsu got a hold of it.

Suddenly, the sun rays coming in from the window caught onto something shiny and a tiny flash of silver grabbed Megumi's attention on the floor. Frowning to herself, she leisurely reached for the small page that displayed a small stamp of glitter in the upper right hand corner. Puzzled again as to what in the world such strange articles were doing in her clinic, Megumi furrowed her eyebrows, wincing a bit from the pain from her still swollen face at the slight movement, and she closed her eyes until the pain receded. When it was calm enough for her to move, she opened her eyes again and read the first few lines of the paper before her heart nearly jumped into her throat.

It was an official essay of configuration for a false identity and the names at the top of the paper read: Tetsu Nakano, formally known as Kurotara Kajima.

"Oh my God...." Megumi murmured as she felt all the feeling in her body go numb and she dropped the small paper to the floor to allow her hand to fly to her chest, feeling the fast pace of her pumping heart.

She took no notice to the other papers scattered along the floor as she got up from where she once kneeled on the ground, her legs barely able to keep her upright as she struggled to gain control over her body and mind. But too much was going on within her and her body refused to respond to her brain, or whatever was left of it besides the frantic scrambles of the words she had just read.

"Find anything interesting, Megumi?" Tetsu asked from behind her, his presence never even sensed due to her distraction and she whirled around to face him, her hair twirling through the air like a spiraling snail shell. Her eyes widened when she saw him, her mind going completely blank for only a few brief seconds before she bolted out of the room. But Tetsu was quick to react and he easily caught up with her in the kitchen, her back pressing up against the stove. Her unsteady breathing could be heard all the way to where Tetsu was now standing in the kitchen doorway.

Megumi's eyes darted from left to right, searching for some kind of escape route, but she found none. Her heart beat was racing at a million miles a minute as she reminisced about just what he did to her the last time they were here. Her only way out of the clinic was through the front door and right now, Tetsu was blocking it's path.

Tetsu, or whoever he was, saw the intense fright in her cinnamon eyes, now overridden with dilated pupils that wandered around the entire room in search of help, and he chuckled to himself, reveling in the fact that she was mortally petrified of him and he watched how her chest heaved hastily up and down from her sheer panicked breaths.

"Who... who are you?" Megumi asked after finally finding her voice and her hands gripped the front of the counter behind her as she anticipated what he would say.

"You thought you knew, didn't you?" Tetsu asked with a malevolent grin, "Hah! You stupid woman! You thought I was Tetsu Nakano, one of the top business men in Aizu, one of the many suitors of Miss Megumi Takani, you. The one man who asked for your hand in marriage because he was so hopelessly in love with you. I am none of those things, Sweetheart, and I never have been. I am Kurotara Kajima, the son of Hideki Kajima. Also I am proud to say that I have earned the title of his killer as well..."

Megumi's grip tightened on the edge of the counter, her still-bruised hands aching at the strong grasp, but she paid no attention to it, only to the murderer in front of her. She felt herself stiffen to stone at that moment, her brain filling with loud warning sirens at the sound of the word, 'killer.' Megumi swallowed back the last bit of saliva she had left in her mouth, leaving her entire throat parched and dry, her palms sweaty and shaking. 'He killed his own father. He's the one that killed the magistrate... He's the one that made Sanosuke leave Japan...' Megumi thought.

Without even a second thought of the consequence, her hand sailed backwards, grabbing hold of the handle of a nearby kitchen knife and she whipped it around, pointing the end towards Tetsu's throat, her eyes narrowed and glowing with the high spirit that had been put on hold until that very moment.

"Get the fuck out of my house!" Megumi demanded, the sharp point of the knife directed straight at the base of Kurotara's neck and she watched his black and white eyes widen in surprise to her automatic self-defense mechanism, "Now!"

"Mommy... How long was I asleep?" Suzuki asked groggily as he walked into the kitchen from behind his mother, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand to try and fully awaken himself, completely unaware of the danger he had just placed himself in.

"Suzuki! Get out of here!" Megumi shouted in surprise as she quickly turned away from Tetsu to warn her son, but as she was distracted, Tetsu lost no time in snatching the knife out of her hands and capturing her in a headlock. Within a few mere seconds, the tables had quickly been turned around and he now had the upper hand as he pointed the knife at her own throat.

Suzuki's eyes immediately lost their drowsy condition and they widened in fright as he watched his mother being held at the point of the kitchen knife, the reality of what he had just walked in on suddenly crashing up on him like the waves of the ocean upon a beach's shore. He instantaneously ran forward to help his mother, but Tetsu only pressed the knife deeper into the base of her throat, drawing out a tiny stream of blood.

"MOM!" Suzuki cried, but paused in his rush as he saw the blood that escaped from her neck and drizzled down the long silver blade of the kitchen knife. Suddenly, his fear was replaced with anger as his hands balled up into fists, his rich brown eyes burning with rage as he stared his mother's captor in the eye.

"Let her go!" Suzuki demanded, pulling out his wooden bokken from behind his back and he readied it in front of him, his stance preparing him to strike at any given moment, but Tetsu only laughed in his face.

"You're as pitiful as your mother," Tetsu taunted, making Suzuki grind his teeth together at the insult, "Face the facts, you little runt, I'm the one with the dangerous weapon here and you have a tiny little stick. What do you expect to do with that little toy of yours?"

"The Kamiya Kasshin Ryu is used to protect the ones you care about and for the people that need protecting," Suzuki said, his voice never wavering as his fear for his mother's life out-weighed his fear for his own, "if I lose, I am not only letting down myself, but also the person that I am trying to protect. That is what the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu teaches it's students."

"You're a brave kid, I'll give you that much, but bravery doesn't take you far," Tetsu warned, his voice teasing and his black and white eyes gleaming with an evil gold tint, "Drop the weapon, brat. I don't think you want to have your selfish act of trying to play hero be the reason I jam this knife into your mom's neck. Drop it, now!"

Suzuki growled under his breath. He knew he was right. What chance did a five year old with so little sword training have against a full grown man with a knife? Suzuki didn't even want to think of the answer. Obediently, Suzuki dropped his bokken to the floor, feeling like the biggest failure in the world for letting his mother down. The one chance he had to show her just how strong his training had made him had been ruined and outdone. More than anything, Suzuki wanted to pick his wooden sword back up and beat Tetsu into another lifetime, but in the case of his mother as his hostage, Suzuki had no choice but to do as he said. Luck was obviously not on his side. If it weren't for his arrival, his mother would still be safe...

Suzuki looked up at Megumi with sorrowful eyes, knowing that it was his duty as the man of the house to protect her with everything he had, and he had now failed her when she needed it most. But in making eye contact with his mother, he saw that she was trying to mouth something to him. Reading her unspoken words through the movement of her lips, he knew what she was going to do and whether he liked it or not, Megumi was going to try and save him.

'No,' Suzuki shook his head at her, but Megumi was a stubborn woman and as Suzuki felt it was his job to protect her, her obligation as a mother was to do the same for him.

While Tetsu was still in his own triumphant little world, Megumi pulled her elbow up and rammed it back down into Tetsu's ribs, startling him and causing him to drop the knife to the floor so he could take hold of his throbbing abdomen.

Quickly, Megumi kicked the kitchen knife across the tile floor as she saw Tetsu reaching for it after he had recovered from his surprise and as the injured man struggled to crawl across the floor to the knife at the other end of the room, Megumi turned to her son with fearful eyes.

"Run, Suzuki!" she cried as Tetsu tackled her down to the ground, his eyes gleaming with the same intense gold they had the night he had taken advantage of her body as he drew the knife towards her neck again. Megumi desperately struggled against the grown man's strength as she held onto the blade with her bare hands to keep it away from herself.

"You stupid bitch!" Tetsu shouted at her, struggling against her kicking at his stomach and battling against her to shove the sharp dagger into her throat. The trails of blood from her bare hands coursed down her wrists as Megumi strained against his strength, grunting and pushing upward with the knife to try and get it away from her.

"Mom!" Suzuki shouted and he ran forward, but Tetsu only kicked him away with his free leg. Not letting himself be taken down so easily, Suzuki shot back up from where he had slid across the tile and he grabbed his wooden bokken off the floor, crashing it down onto Tetsu's head with all his might. The older man immediately rolled off Megumi with a loud groan.

"Get off her!" Suzuki screamed and he quickly took his mother's bloody hand, leading her out towards the front door to escape, "Come on, Mom! We needa get outta here!"

Suzuki pulled his frightened mother out into the front yard, practically lugging her out with her entire body weight leaning against his before Tetsu caught up with them again. His nostrils flared as he grabbed Megumi by her leg, the knife no longer in his hands as he pulled her back down to the ground and she let out a startled cry.

Before Tetsu could strike her, Megumi scraped her long nails across his face, drawing thin strips of crimson blood from his cheeks and they flowed down to his chin. Automatically, Tetsu/ Kurotara grabbed at his face in agony. Turning her head away from his, Megumi craned her neck to look back and up at her son who stood completely still in front of them, paralyzed with shock.

"Get out of here, Suzuki!" Megumi cried as she struggled against Tetsu's attempts to strangle her and she strained under the man's weight, "Suzuki, run! Run and get help! Get out of here! Suzuki, get to the dojo!"

Without a word, Suzuki nodded to his mother like an obedient servant and ran out of the yard as fast as his legs could carry him. 'Find someone, Suzuki....' Megumi prayed, her hands gripping Tetsu's wrists as she tried pushing them away from her throat, 'Find help...'

"You are going to pay for that!" Tetsu spat at her, his strength increasing with his anger as he was finally able to pin her arms behind her back to keep her from fighting him, "You of all people should know how useless it is to try and win! That son of yours is lucky he got away this time, Megumi, but don't think he'll miss out on death the second time around!"

"You leave Suzuki alone, you sick bastard!" Megumi barked at him, her eyes no longer darting from side to side and she was finally able to find her inner bravery and she looked him straight in the eye, "I swear to God, if you so much as harm a hair on my child's head, I'll kill you!"

"You really don't get it, do you, Sweetheart?" Tetsu asked with an evil chuckle, pausing in his endeavor to wring her neck as he pined her down, "It hurts to lose someone dear to you, doesn't it? It tears you apart! You think you know all about pain, but you have no idea!"

"What are you talking about?!" Megumi demanded as she twisted her arms from behind her to try and escape his tight grasp, but Tetsu held fast.

"You think I should feel sorry for you, don't you?!" Tetsu screamed, his voice rising in volume as he tightened his grip on her wrists, pulling them farther behind her back and she strained under the pressure, "I could never feel pity for someone like you. You despise me for being a murderer, but you, Megumi Takani, have killed more than I ever could have with your drugs! You killed Satomi! The only one I could ever give my heart to! You gave her that damn opium of yours and she died and I died with her! I had finally been able to convince my father to set her free when I found her dead in her cell with the opium you gave her! When I found you in Aizu, you were the object of every man's affections, but you were everything I ever hated in my entire life! After killing my father for sentencing Satomi to death, it was only a great coincidence that your fiancé happened to get into an argument with him earlier that evening, making him the top suspect for my father's murder. I'm not sure who I hate more, my father or you!"

"Then why did you propose to me?!" Megumi demanded, her voice becoming less and less powerful as her strength was finally giving out and exhaustion overwhelmed her body, "Knowing that I was the one that made the opium to kill your old wife-to-be. Why did you want to marry me?"

"Want to marry you? Don't be so dense! You think I would want the name Kajima as mine forever?!" Tetsu shouted, his black and white eyes boring into her like a collision of comet to Earth, "Marrying you would have given me the legal name of Tetsu Takani and given me full possession of your belongings after your 'unexpected' death. Marrying you and having my way with your body, taking your name as my own, and strangling you the night of our wedding would be like killing three birds with one stone. And like a fool, you never saw it coming..."

"So that's it," Megumi spat, her eyes narrowing at the man who held her captive, "you wanted to kill me for making the opium Satomi took and in the mean time, you wanted to marry me, take advantage of me, and rid yourself of your father's last name and take mine." At Tetsu's wicked grin and nod, Megumi shook her head, pulling it back and then hawked spit in his face.

"You're disgusting..." she breathed as he wiped her saliva off his still-bleeding face with the back of his hand and he struck her, causing her head to fly backwards from the rough collision.

"It is you who is disgusting!" Tetsu shrieked at her, taking no pity on her already beaten face as he added yet another blow to her cheek, "You actually thought that I would spare your son if you never told anyone about that night, didn't you?! You fool! After I take the liberty of strangling you, I'm still gonna enjoy drowning that little boy in the river as planned before." Seeing Megumi's eyes widen at his last statement, Tetsu snickered. "You're dumber than I thought... So, Megumi, tell me, how does it feel to have everything you ever cared about taken away from you? Tell me how much it hurts!"

"I hate you..." Megumi murmured, her chest heaving up and down because of her lack of breath as she glared at Tetsu with blackened eyes, "You are the most vile, disgusting, horrible monster that ever walked the Earth! You are the reason Suzuki was denied his father, you are the reason Kenshin had to live without his best friend, you are the reason Yahiko never learned what true life was all about, you are the reason Kaoru never got the chance to share her thoughts with one of her closest companions, and you are the reason I was denied the true love of my life that could never be replaced! You denied me the warmth in my heart that I could never survive without! Only the thought that Sanosuke might still be out there in the world kept me alive! It's your fault that Sanosuke had to leave Japan and all the people that cared about him most and it's your fault I spent six long years crying! And for that, I could never forgive you...!"

'Mom....' Suzuki thought as he ran through the busy streets of Tokyo, his feet leading him automatically to the dojo where he knew he could find his friends, 'Don't die, Mommy... Please don't die...'

As soon as the entrance of the dojo came into view, Suzuki's speed increased and he thrust the door open with one heavy shove and he ran inside, his shoes thumping against the hard gray stones of the ground. His eyes searched frantically for any sign of human life and his ears perked up to listen for any sounds of his friends' voices, but the only noise in the entire dojo property was the soft whistling of the evening wind and the loud beating of Suzuki's heart that threatened to erupt from his chest.

He was not going to give up. Taking in a deep breath, Suzuki ran around the house, not even bothering to take off his shoes as he scurried inside the dojo, opening and closing every door he saw as he searched for anyone who could help him. But he found no one inside.

"Auntie Kaoru! Uncle Kenshin! Uncle Yahiko!" Suzuki hollered out into every room he passed, praying for some kind of response, but he only received the echo of his own voice coming back to him as the walls' silent answer. His shoulders sagged dejectedly and tears streamed down his face, his hope of finding anyone to help him draining from his mind. With as much energy as he could conjure up from his exhausted body, Suzuki ran back outside to check again, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Help! Auntie Kaoru! Uncle Kenshin! Uncle Yahiko!" Suzuki screamed as he ran from the back of the dojo to the front, his tears blurring his vision as they flowed down his cheeks, dripping off the edge of his chin as he ran, "Please! Anybody! Where are you guys?!"

Suzuki continued to run about the dojo, his tears blinding him from seeing someone coming toward him in the opposite direction with a concerned expression on his face.

"Whoa, whoa, Suzuki... " Sanosuke said as he grabbed the small boy by his shoulders, stopping him from practically knocking him over in his frantic rampage around the house, "What are you running around the house like a maniac for? Is everything alright?"

"Mr. Sagara!" Suzuki exclaimed and he quickly grabbed the older man's hand, pulling him out towards the exit with wide frightened eyes, "Please! You've gotta help! He's got her! He's gonna kill her if we don't get there in time! I tried to find everyone else, but they're not here! Please, Mr. Sagara, you gotta save her!"

"Okay, Suzuki, calm down..." Sanosuke soothed, putting his hands up to calm his son, not quite understanding the importance of the situation as he tried to sort out everything Suzuki was trying to tell him, "What are you talking about? Save who?"

"Mommy!" Suzuki cried, tugging more at Sanosuke's arm, never once giving himself time to let out his held breath, "You gotta save Mommy! He's got her at the clinic, Mr. Sagara! Please! You gotta help her, you just gotta! You're the only one that can save her! I don't want Mommy to die! Please, I'm begging you! You gotta save her!"

"Megumi..." Sanosuke whispered under his breath and without even a second thought, he took off towards the clinic, Suzuki trailing behind with the same angst expression on his face that his father had on his.

He had to make it, he just had to. Who knows what would happen if he didn't... Only God could tell.

A/N: Okay, just in case you didn't catch that, Kurotara Kajima and Tetsu Nakano are the same guy. I think that's all but if there's anything else you're confused about, just e-mail me. As usual, reviews are welcome!