Sagara

Disclaimer:I don't own RK.

A blur flew pass ten year old Sanosuke and Katsu,a stick,both ends sharpened,was pointed at the tip of their noses.

A girl,ten years of age with dark blue hair,silver eyes and came to Sanosuke's chin stood there,holding the makeshift weapon.

"Kira,could you use something less,um,sharp?"

Sanosuke asked,his eyes crossed,the cause of focusing on the pointed needle like end.

"Fine."

The girl said,taking the makeshift weapon out of it's place and twirling it above Sanosuke's head.

She flipped it up and caught it behind the spiky haired boy's head.

"Nakira,your mother needs you in the kitchen."

Nakira looked up from the brown eyes she had become so fond of in the past few years he had been with the sekihottai.

"Coming."

Nakira stared at her mother's body.

"Mom-"

She was cut off as she fell back,unconsious,the strip of red cloth clutched tightly in her hand.

nineteen year old Nakira sighed at the memories,her father had finally accepted her as a member of the sekihottai,but it was to late,Shindo had sent

half of his men to the village,when she had been knocked out they had dragged her father's corpse to the Sagara home.

She now wore her father's jacket over a black long sleeve shirt that her mother had left her and a pair of black hamaitchi pants.

Her hair was like her father's except where

his hair had been over his left eye hers was over her right and her hair length was longer.

She came to a halt outside the Akabeko just as her stomach let out a hardly audible growl.

'Wonder if I have enough.'

Quickly she counted how much she had in her head.

'Nope,it's not enough.'

She walked pass the restaurant.

As she passed a stand a certain picture caught her attention, it was herself,Sanosuke and her father 9 year ago.

"Who's the artist of this?"

She asked, holding the paper up to the old man.

"That one,Suonon Sukioka."

'Katsu.'

She thought.

"You look like the girl in this picture."

"That's because it is me, nine years ago."

She whispered.

"What's you name?"

"Sagara,Nakira."

"Sagara,huh?There's someone else in this town with that name, you might find him at the dojo up there."

Nakira smiled and thanked the man, heading toward the Kaimia Dojo,she went back to the stand as if on second thought and bought the drawing.

Yaime looked up from her stance,she turned around,completly forgetting about the 16 year old with throwing knives behind her.

She yelped as one hit her in the shoulder.

"Misao,could you wait, I just-"

"SAGARA."

Misao backed up a bit,she could have sworn the blue haired wounder had matirealized behind the black haired samurai.

"Yes,Makimachi?"

"Nakira?"

Sanosuke asked, a bit unsure that Sozo's daughter was standing with the ninja and samurai.

Both he and Aoshi had come out to see what

Misao's out burst had been about.

"Hey Sano."

Nakira growled and snatched the bokken from the boy behind her.

Sanosuke had all but dragged her black haired hair inside after noticing all the open and uncared for wounds, he had set her in a room with

Megumi,for two hours with the door being guarded,she had taken an automatic

disliking to the fox,she talked a bit more than she should.

"Yaime,come get your brother, before I give him brain damage."

The door was no longer guarded but Megumi had given her an herb that numbed her legs.

Something or someone bolted through the door and hid behind her, in the open door way was a fuming Kaoru.

Luckily before Sanosuke nailed her down her had introduced her to the household.

She looked back, half expecting it to be Sanosuke,half knowing it was.

There he was, a few bumps on his head but no blood.

"You have really got to learn to your comments to yourself,San-chan."

She said, thumping him on the head.

She had been allowed out for lunch,Yaime had gotten a few bumps and scatches,Yahiko the same,Sanosuke almost got a black eye and she had

almost gotten food poisoning,all from Kaoru's cooking.

'Well at least you can cook ,Kaoru,unlike some people who can't even boil water.'

Had been Kira's comment on the under cooked,salty/bitter soup.

The comment had Sanosuke beet red,cooking had always been a disability for him.

That's why he hardly ever paid tabs.

He also lost most of his money playing dice.

Nakira's head gently fell onto Sanosuke's upper arm.

Th herb had worn off hours ago,she had insisted on coming gambling with him.

"Looks like you should get her home,Sano."

Said one of Sanosuke's friends.

"What time is it?"

Sanosuke asked curious as to if the dojo would still be awake or not.

"About 2:30."

"Don't you guys have families?"

Sanosuke asked,picking up the almost scrawny figure of Nakira.

He left before he could get an answer.

He was a bit surprised to find Saito halfway there.

"Well,who's this?"

"None of your business."

Sanosuke snapped,tring to walk pass the wolf,but ended up with a sword through his stomach.

"I can make it my business."

"She's a friend."

Sanosuke said, forcing himself toward the dojo,successfully this time.

Kira stirred just before he fell over, halfway up the steps.

"Sano."

She whispered, her breath catching in her throat, she helped him up the rest of the way into the dojo and to his room.

"Megumi."

Kira called from outside the fox's room.

"What?"

"Sano,he....he....he's."

She gave up on trying to get it out of her throat and pulled the older girl to Sanosuke's room.

"Oh my."

Megumi gasped and rushed in,closing the door behind her,in Kira's face.

Nakira pulled Sanosuke's jacket closer to her damp body.

Megumi had forced her to take a bath to clam down two hours ago,now she sat on her futon,her purple/red kimono/hamitchi had been discarded

by the door.

Slowly she stood up,opened the door and disappeared down the hall,turning to Sanosuke's room.

Megumi growled at the sleeping figure of Nakira.

The girl had been sleeping since Yahiko found her in Sanosuke's room a week ago,it was like she was in acoma.

Sanosuke had been out,too,but that was because of the infection in his stomach,for some reason Saito had ue\sed a rusty sword.

If the piece that had broken off had been any smaller they wouldn't have been able to get it out.

She placed a hand on the girls neck,and immediately pulled it away,Nakira was as hot as a burner set on high!

Megumi stared.Kenshin had carried her to her room ,he hadn't said anything about her being warm,though it could've been hard to tell,after

all,the girl had Sanosuke's jacket clutched tightly to her form,and it that was all she had on.

Megumi pulled the jacket off the girl's form,surprised to see scars over her lower stomach.

The nineteen year old wimpered as Megumi traced the longest scar,it took up the area from her left kidne to her right second rib.

It was almost as if someone had tried to cut her open.

Megumi dropped the jacket back onto the girl,who automaticly snuggled into the still warm matireal.

"Auntie Mugumi?"

The two little girls slilently crept into the room.

"Is she ok?"

Ayaime asked,tugging the doctor's sleave.

"I don't know."

Megumi answered,picking up the two and carrying them outside.

"Where's Kaoru?"

"Kaoru's went to town with Kenshin."

"Yahiko,can you try waking Sano?"

"Sure,I can try."

"Thank you."

Megumi said,taking the children to the garden.

"Sanosuke,wak-ah!"

Yahiko sceamed ,just as Sanosuke sat up,drenched in the water Yahiko had spilt falling backwards.

"What?"

"Megumi said she wanted to talk to you."

"And."

"I don't know."

Yahiko shugged as the nineteen year old stood up and walked out.

Sanosuke stared at thew scars on Nakira's lower stomach,how many fights had she gotten into since he last saw her?

"You said something about a fever before,right?"

"Yes,it was somewhere between 103.3 and 103.9,I'm starting to worry,she's been sleeping wraped up in your jacket since the night you came

home with that stomach wound.At first we thought she was just in a deep sleep from staying up til about 6:30 a.m. and had your jacket on

becaause she needed some reassurence that you were there and ok,but it's been turning into the thought that that's why she was in your room

and was cold from fever so she used the thick matireal to keep her body warm."

"It's most likely to be both.When the sekihottai was alive,if I had been injured in fights that would sometimes beak out,she'd sit in my room with

a piece of my clothing,such as my shirt or jacket,wrapped tightly around her,she'd usually get a fever or cold as soon as she fell asleep,strange

thing is,noone cold wake her up,I'd usually walk into her room half asleep and wake her-"

"Well then,try waking her up."

"Only if you get out."

"Fine."

After Megumi stormed out of the room,Sanosuke turned to Nakira.

Slowly he peeled back the sheet and slipped under.

"I'll do it later,right nows my chance to get somme more sleep."

With that he difted off,fully aware of the pale arms that wrapped themselves around his waist.

The position the two teens found themselves in wasn't really embarressing ,considering the fact that it brought back memorys of when the

sekihottai was still alive.

Nakira tightened her arms around Sanosuke's waist,to deep in thought to notice Yaime,Misao and Kaoru peeking through the cracked door.

Though it didn't take long to pull the two out when Misao clapmed a hand over a snickering Kaoru's mouth.

"You three can come out."

Nakira growled,sitting up and cutching the ends of the jacket togather about an inch under her torso.

Kenshin looked up from his game with Ayame and Suzume as the front door slid open,reveling a tried Nakira in the purple/red kimono/ hamitchi

with Sanosuke's jacket draped on her shoulders and a ticked Sanosuke.

'Must not have gotten all the time he had wanted with her when she woke.'

"What time is it?"

"It's almost 3:00,Nakira."

Kenshin said,cutting off the 'miss' for the tomboy's sake,and his own.

Sanosuke had told the to cut off the 'miss' for obvious reasons.

Kenshin stood as the two seaventeen year olds and the one sixteen year old walked out.

"We're going to the Akabeko soon,I bet you two are hungry,you've been out for almost a week."

Kaoru said,going to the dojo to get Yahiko.

"What about Megumi and Aoshi?"

"Megumi's at the clinice and who knows where Aoshi is."

Nakira ginned and yawned.

She blushed at the sudden feeling of Sanosuke's hand rubbing her side,she looked up at him,expecting the grin she usually got,she was

shocked to see him smiling.

"That's rare."

"What is?"

"You smiling."

"....."

Her answer was a blush.

She smirked and suggeled into his side.

"She fits into his side just right."

Misao said.

"Who does?"

"Nakira."

"Oh,you know their two years apart."

"You think we should-"

"Yaime,no,their relationship is growing on it's own."

"The hard part is ,getting them to tell eachother how they feel."

"How do we know they didn't?They could've when they were"

"Yaime,they were only ten."

"humph."

"Maybe we shouldn't have brought Sano,with his stomach injury."

"You saw how Nakira was helping,and he didn't even eat that much."

"She's good with little kids."

Kenshin qouted,he and Sanosuke were sitting outside watching Nakira play with Ayame and Suzume.

"There weren't many kids in the village,most,or all depending on how you look at it,were teens from fifteen to eighteen.I was the first one there

in her age group,so........"

"You two ended up being pretty close."

"Yeah,and since I had left my family I'm not sure if I had any siblings or not.Well,as a few years passed Katsu joined.he took the place that

Nakira would have had if Captin Sagara would've accepted her earlier.But he choose to give give her the headband the same night Shindo

attacked,that night was the last time I saw her before the day she showed up here."

"That night half of Shindo's men attacked the village,the knocked me out and dragged father's body back to the Sagara home.About five years

later I met Makimachi,I stayed with her for awhile.I ran into the oniwaban group,stayed with them for about a year,I took off as soon as I turned

seaventeen.About a year later I found myself in Kyoto,I wandered around around for awhile,I ended up in Edo.Aweek before I showed up here

I was pretty close to are home village."

Kenshin looked behind Sanosuke to see Nakira holding the,now sleeping,Ayame and Suzume.

"And what's the story about all the scars on you?"

A light blush crept onto Nakira's face as her hand dropped down to her lower stomach.

"I tell you later,Kaoru's burning something."

She yelped,smoke flying out the open door.

"Here."

She discarded the girls into Kenshin's lap as Sanosuke followed her into the kitchen.