Rurouni Kenshin Fanfic

Rurouni Kenshin & Samurai X Original Japanese Version ©N. Watsuki/Shueisha * Fuji-TV * SME Visual Works Inc. * Sony Pictures Entertainment

All Fanfics created by Chiruken (me) were written for the sole purpose of shared entertainment and not intended for publication or sale.

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A Love Story

Fanfic By:  Chiruken Part 4 Mendacity

"Since I no longer expect anything from mankind except madness, meanness, and mendacity; egotism, cowardice, and self-delusion, I have stopped being a misanthrope."

Irving Layton (b. 1912) "The Whole Bloody Bird"

            Takani Megumi, standing on the engawa overlooking the garden of the Aoiya with a belligerent stance, tossed the long ebony strands of her hair over her shoulder, dark eyes flashing and revealing her barely contained annoyance, and lifted her chin in a haughty gesture as she glared at the object of her ire.  Or rather, the only individual with the natural ability to arouse her temper with amazing frequency…Sagara Sanosuke.  He returned her glower with an amused smirk, not phased in the least by her furious display of attitude since he, himself, had one to match, and chewed on the ever-present fishbone he favored as he shoved his hands, bandaged one as well, into his pockets, hunching his shoulders, and leaned against a support post of the engawa with seeming nonchalant casualness.  "Ken-san heard us last night."

            "So?"  Sanosuke's smirk grew, rather than diminishing, at Megumi's announcement.

            Her eyes narrowed as she stepped closer, lowering her voice to an angry hiss as her gaze darted around the garden almost furtively.  "He knows, Sanosuke."

            He leaned closer and lowered his voices as well.  "Knows what, kitsune?"  He straightened slowly, brown eyes glinting with mocking amusement.  "About you and Aoshi?"  She nodded sharply, eyes moving over the garden again.  "And this affects me how?"

            "It wouldn't go very well for you, I think, if Ken-san were to discover the truth about you and tanuki girl, tori atama."

            Sanosuke snorted, expression scornful as he stepped away from her to lean against the post again.  "I don't know what you're talkin' 'bout."

            "Oh please."  Megumi rolled her eyes.  "It's plain for anyone to see, Sanosuke."  Her expression softened, sadness filling her dark eyes.  "At least for anyone not blinded by love and trust.  Poor Ken-san."

            "'Poor Ken-san'?"  Sanosuke tossed his fishbone aside.  "You've got no room to be accusin' or pityin', Takani Megumi.  If you want to feel sorry for someone, why don't you start with Misao?  The itachi girl is the one with a broken heart, you know."

            "And Ken-san loves Kaoru!"  Megumi cried, then hastily glanced around as if to make certain no one heard her outburst.

            He raked a hand through his hair in frustration, causing the already disarrayed locks to stand on end.  "What do you want me to say, Megumi?  Huh?"  She shook her head, opening her mouth as if to speak, but he cut her off with an impatient gesture.  "Look, kitsune, no matter what you say or I might wish, what's done is done and there's no turnin' back.  But until I don't got a choice in it, I'm gonna keep my mouth shut and you should, too."

            Megumi turned away with a tired sigh.  "I don't know how much longer I can live the lie, Sanosuke.  The longer it goes on the harder it's going to be for everyone involved."

            Sanosuke shoved his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders in his habitual slouch as he turned in the opposite direction.  "Yeah, I know."  He replied softly.

            As they walked away, neither noticed the unmoving figure crouched on the low overhang of the roof watching the exchange with narrowed green eyes.  Nor did they hear the soft, muted sound of feet hitting the ground as Makimachi Misao lightly dropped from her concealed perch, a scowl marring her pretty features.

**To Be Continue…**

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Response to Reviewers:

Cherie Dee:  Does this answer your question?  Hehehe!  Now we have an added angle…Kenshin/Kaoru/Sanosuke…Sorry it took longer for this update.  My original intention had been to update this fic everyday, but you know what happens to the best-laid plans, right?

Rurouni Angel:  Thanks for all your help!  And the answer is still yes!

Firuze Khanume:  Very odd, I agree.  And yes, I think she would understand him much better than Kaoru ever would (not that I have anything against K&K!) since, as you say, she accepted Aoshi, but also think of her occupation…she's the Okashira of the Oniwabanshu.  As such, she has to be in touch with the darker side of life…ie:  remember her handling of the situation in Episode 84 (?) (I believe this was the episode with the Sanada Ninjas, the rival ninja clan to the Oniwabanshu).  There was nothing child-like and innocent about her when she was dealing with them now was there?  And yes, I totally agree that we can't judge the standards of age when dealing with marriage (etc) from then by comparing to our current standards.

K-chan:  Thanks for the encouraging review.  I'm terrible for short chapters, sorry!

Lady A:  Until now, I never really thought about Alternate Pairings, but now that I'm writing this one, I find that they're actually pretty fun!  I'm glad you're enjoying.  I'm hoping to update a little faster in the future…I wasn't sure if I should just out and say what was going on, but I'm glad I took the other road.  I think it's much more fun to keep guessing (not that there's much guess work involved, but anyhoo…).

Josephine Phillip:  Thanks Jo…I'm glad you're enjoying!  And yes, sometimes it's a little hairy what's going on in my mind…pet fanfics running around willy-nilly kinda like hamsters that got loose in a house full of cats…**ahem**  Thanks for reading my stuff!  And when are you going to start posting yours, hmmm?  **grins**

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Author's Notes:

1.Wowzies!  Thanks bunchies mina-san for reading this story!  I was really worried that nobody would like the Alternate Pairings that I'm doing.  (I'll be the first to admit that some make sense, some are intriguing, and some are just plain odd.

2.I'm changing the style of this.  I decided to repost the first 3 chapters again with the new additions…nothing spectacular, but I added a quotation at the beginning of each chapter like I did with this one.  Other than that, nothing else was done.

3.Hopefully the next chapter flows a little easier than this one did…I was finding myself procrastinating in writing it, finding something else that just HAD to be done every time I sat down to write.  **shrugs** Now that it's written I can't figure out what my problem was!  Go figure.

4.I'm still experiencing an obsession with "ity" words!  Did you know that in the Canadian Gage Dictionary under "A" there are 56 "ity" words beginning with "Ability" and ending with "Avidity", "B" contains only 14 "ity" words ("Banality" to "Brutality"),  "C" has a whopping 65 "ity" words ("Calamity" to "Curiosity") and "Z" only has 1, "Zero Gravity".  I'm still working on the rest of the alphabet, though I can tell you that "X" and "Y" don't contain "ity" words.

5.My only excuse for A/N #4 is a severe lack in sleep!