Guy's Night Out

Chapter Five

(This fic was inspired by Kitty Katana's review, which was much appreciated, giving credit where credit is due. I'd also like to thank my daughter Sarah for helping me navigate the fanfiction site, and upload my stories, because I'm cursed with a lack of techno-skills.)

Warning, this chapter rated PG-13 for Sano's trash talking. Kiddies under 13, ask your mom to tell you the clean version as she tucks you into bed tonight. The rest of you, enjoy.

"Come on, pal, I know a new place where the dice are hot and so is the sake!" said Sano.

Kenshin lengthened his stride to keep up with his tall, long-legged friend.

"Whatever you say, Sano, I'm not familiar with this part of town," said Kenshin, starting intuitively to survey his surroundings with a fighter's perspective. His eyes were going to places where danger might lurk in the lengthening shadows of twilight before he even was aware of it. Force of habit, he mused to himself.

Other than an occasional evening out with friends at the Akabeko and a few other "incidents" that made it necessary, Kenshin wasn't really one to go prowling around certain areas of Tokyo after dark like his ex-gangster friend obviously was used to doing. The last decade or so of his existence on this earth had made Kenshin acutely grateful not to spend his nights roaming the back alleys and byways of some city like a predatory beast.

Sano probably knew every dive and gambling parlor, from squalid to elegantly appointed, on this side of Tokyo, Kenshin supposed, from his "Zanza" days as a feared fighter for hire.

"What is this place like, Sano? Sessha does not want trouble, that I do not," said Kenshin to his friend.

"Oh, it's a nice enough place, I guess," said Sano. "Not the worst, not the best, but there's always a good game or two going, the serving girls aren't too ugly and the sake is good."

"You're a man of simple needs, my friend, that you are," chuckled Kenshin. "Oi, that's true, pal. Just feed me enough, give me a bit to drink and a warm, shapely woman whose face doesn't scare you in the morning light to warm my bed on a cold and lonely night, and I'm a happy man," laughed Sano.

"Would that 'shapely woman' be Megumi-dono? I've seen the way you look at her when you think I'm unaware," asked Kenshin, suddenly serious.

Sano scowled, "I can't believe I'm getting advice about my love life from a guy who can't even kiss a girl he's lived with for almost two years without turning redder than his hair!"

"I would not like to see Megumi-dono hurt, that I would not," said Kenshin tightly. "She has had enough pain in her life, that she has."

"I know that better than anyone, pal. Jest shuddap about it, will ya? We're trying to have a good time here, aren't we? Don't go and piss me off, now!"

"Very well, that's enough said for now," replied Kenshin.

"Hm, Sano is a big boy, I guess I'm sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong anyway," he thought to himself. "And, I'm as likely to give someone good advice about romance as Shishou Hiko would be begging me for permission to kiss my ass!"

"Here we are, this is it!" exclaimed Sano.

They stood before a smallish establishment, lit up in the growing darkness with colorful lanterns and as Sano had promised, not shabby, not elegant. The sign hanging on the front said, "The White Tiger".

Sano strode in with the air of someone who'd been there before and knew what to expect.

A pretty older serving woman jumped up and went to greet him. She obviously recognized Sano. "Sanosuke-kun, where have you been all these weeks?"she exclaimed warmly as she led him to a table in the back where a game of dice was going on.

"Here and there, Ona, here and there," he said, winking at her, causing her to giggle and lightly slap his arm with her fan. "Oh, you're a naughty one, aren't you? Who's your cute little friend?" she inquired, batting her eyes at Kenshin. "LITTLE!!?" thought Kenshin, indignantly.

"Maa, maa, I think your friend doesn't like me," she pouted with rouged lips. "He's scowling at me like I just poured hot sake in his lap!"

"Nah, Ona, he's just a serious kinda guy, that's why I brought him here. He needs a lesson or two on how to have a good time."

"Well, Sanosuke-kun, I know how to take care of that problem!" She winked at Kenshin, and he barely was able to restrain himself from rolling his eyes in a comical fashion.

In his former life as the Battousai, he had come across that sort of woman often enough, and it was just part of her job to tease and flirt with the customers, make them spend their money and forget their problems for a while.

"Now, now, don't be a sourpuss, sit down and make yourselves comfortable. I'm sure a game will open up soon, and I'll bring you a jug of our best sake." crooned Ona.

"Thanks, Ona, that'd be great," Sano replied. They sat on cushions at the table she'd brought them to, and Sano stretched out his long legs. Kenshin sat down, quietly surveying the establishment from under his fringe of bangs. "RELAX, Kenshin, you look as though you expect an attack from a gang of thugs any minute. Don't you know how to enjoy yourself?"

"Of course I know how to enjoy myself, Sano," he shot back a little too quickly.

"Prove it."

"How?"

"I don't know, stop sitting there like you're waiting to be executed or sumthin!" Sano hissed loudly at him.

A few men at nearby tables looked their way and then politely went back to their conversations.

"Hush, baka, you're drawing unnecessary attention to us," Kenshin hissed back.

"Who gives a shit?" shouted Sano, "We're here to have a good time, not spying for the damned Imperialists or sumthin'!"

You could have heard a pin drop. All eyes were upon Kenshin and Sano, who was still glaring at Kenshin with his mouth open and his fist in the air.

"Who said that?" snarled a rough, drunken voice to their left.

"Here's your sake, all nice and warm," said Ona in a falsely bright voice, coming up on their right.

"I said, who said that!" It was the same voice. Sano closed his mouth and looked. The owner of the voice was a large man dressed in the uniform of the local police. He obviously had had enough sake to make a lesser man cry for his mama.

"I did!" shouted Sano, "Wanna make sumthin of it, ahou?"

The big man staggered to his feet. Sano looked up. It was rare he had to look up to meet someone's eye, but he had to this time. The guy was big. A bit on the fat side, but underneath he was solid muscle. And he was pissed, in more ways than one.

"HOW DARE you say that about the Imperialists!" the man slurred. "What are you, some kind of malcontent, a radical, a seditionist, maybe?" "Look at my back and tell me what I am, you big dumb bastard!" yelled Sano.

Kenshin deftly grabbed the tray of sake from Ona and gently shoved her out of the way. Setting the tray down quickly, he went to stand beside his red-faced friend, who was unwisely turning around to show the drunken cop the "AKU" stenciled on the back of his white gi.

"Sano, stop it, you moron!" he said between his teeth. "I said I didn't want any trouble!"

"I'm not the one making trouble here, Kenshin, it's this rude fat-ass here!"

"FAT-ASS!?? I'll show you my fat ass, you disloyal, spike-haired loud mouth and you're gonna be kissing it before we're done!"

The man charged Sano head-down like a bull, seeking to use his great size to his advantage.

Sano sidestepped him with ease, and as the man charged past him kicked him squarely in the ass with one large bandaged foot. The man hit his head against a wooden support beam and went down like the proverbial ton of bricks.

"Problem solved," he said smugly to Kenshin, who wasn't looking at him, but at the 3 other police officers who had risen from the same table to their left.

"Wrong, rooster-head, problem just beginning," Kenshin said through gritted teeth. It flashed through his mind that at this very minute, he could be home sitting with Kaoru as she quietly did some mending or shared some pleasant observations about her students at the dojo instead of looking up at the faces of three very angry police officers who now had their hands on their weapons.

"Kami-sama, I swear to you that I will never again in my worthless life ever try to have a good time again!" Kenshin thought to himself.

Sano grinned down at his pal and said, "Hey, didn't I say we were going to have fun? Did I lie?" Kenshin slanted his friend a disbelieving look from under his bangs, not taking his focus off the three men. "You've got to be kidding!"

Sano took a fighting stance and beckoned the men to attack. "Give me yer best shot, chickenshits!" he snarled.