Yahiko was practicing in the yard, his face set in a scowl. "Hey, brat," Sano greeted him. With the ease of practice, he ducked as the shinai came at his head. "Happy birthday. Where's Kenshin?"
"Laundry," Yahiko grunted, swinging the wooden sword at empty air. "Back."
Correctly interpreting this as "He's doing the laundry out back," Sano went around the side of the house. Kenshin was crouched over the wooden tub, scrubbing. He lifted his head and called out, "Good morning, Sano."
"Mornin'," Sano returned. leaning against one of the roof supports.
Kenshin lifted the dripping sheet, studying it with an experienced eye. Apparently, it failed the whiteness test. Back into the suds it went. "How are you?"
Sano dropped his head back against the pole and smiled into the brilliant sun. In his mind's eye was a picture of Megumi's face, the sparkle in her eyes, as she'd teased him for another kiss this morning. "Great. Couldn't be better."
He didn't see the way Kenshin ducked his head, smiling. "That's wonderful, de gozaro." There was a little silence, the only sound the splash of the sudsy water as Kenshin scrubbed and the faint grunts of Yahiko, still practicing in the front.
Kenshin's voice was very casual as he said, "And Megumi-dono?"
Sano lowered his head again, blinking. There were little spots floating in front of his eyes from looking at the sun, and he wasn't sure he'd heard quite right. "What?"
"Megumi-dono," Kenshin said patiently. "How is she?"
"I--guess she's fine. She was fine last night when she left, right? I left before she did. You would know." Did his voice sound right? It sounded funny. Too casual? Too forced? He was talking too much. Shit. Shit.
"I meant, how is she this morning?"
Sano took a step sideways and sat down hard on the porch. Kenshin knew. "Is it--" He had to stop and swallow. They'd been so careful. He'd been so careful. Or he thought he had. "Is it that obvious?"
Kenshin lifted the sheet from the water with apparent ease and squeezed the excess out. "No. We just--" He looked up, smiling his gentle smile. "We're your friends, Sano. We know when you're happy, de gozaro. Both of you." Kenshin didn't add that he'd accidentally walked in on a stolen moment between Sano and Megumi the week before. They hadn't noticed, mostly because Kenshin had done the swiftest about-face of his life and returned to the yard at near-god-speed, wailing, "Orororororororo," under his breath the entire way.
He'd seen a lot of things, as battousai and as rurouni, but not many of them had matched that embrace for sheer carnal hunger. It had been enough to make him blush as red as his hair. It was one thing to have your suspicions, but quite another to have them practically confirmed in front of your eyes.
"Why are you keeping it a secret?" he said now.
Sano rubbed a hand over his face, then dropped it in his lap. "I just--I--"
"Was it Megumi-dono's idea?"
"No. It was mine." He looked up, helpless. Kenshin obviously disapproved--not of the sex, but of the secrecy. He'd never come right out and say it, but Sano knew he didn't approve. "Kenshin--I just--I mean--dammit." Words, never his friends, were failing him utterly right now. "This is the only thing I can do right, you know?"
Kenshin, sitting on his heels with the laundry lying neglected in the tub, just looked at him, and Sano wanted to shout, You drive me freakin' crazy when you do that. But he swallowed the words, because he knew they wouldn't work. Instead, he fumbled out, "She--her reputation--I mean--you remember that Raiko guy? The fake priest who went around pretending to heal with the power of the gods?"
"Aa," his friend said slowly.
"You remember how his twerpy little friends went around whispering about her? That's all it took, was that, and her reputation was ruined. And she didn't even do anything." Sano spread his hands helplessly. "How much worse would it be if people found out she was sleeping with some--some gangster?"
"Ex-gangster, Sano," Kenshin corrected him.
"Gangster, ex-gangster, ex-bump-on-Buddha's-ass, what the hell does it matter? The point is, people wouldn't understand, and I don't blame 'em. This way, I'm--I'm keepin' her safe, you know?"
"From what?"
"From--from me. From Sagara Sano. From a street-brawling, hard-drinking gambler with nothing to his name but a dinky little apartment and a buncha scars."
Kenshin bent over the laundry again, his hair sliding forward to hide his expression. "You aren't giving yourself enough credit, Sano."
Sano shrugged and rested his forearms on his knees, allowing his hands to dangle between. "I don't see how it's possible to give myself any more."
"Do you love her?"
Yes. Gods, yes. "I'm not talkin' about love, Kenshin," he said instead, poking at the dusty yard with his toe.
"I am," Kenshin said coolly. "Do you love her, or is it just sex?"
Sano's head jerked up, his mouth falling open at the unKenshinlike words. "I--I--jeez, Kenshin!" He could feel himself blushing bright red, all over. Dammit, that never happened.
"Just answer me, Sano."
"That's not the point."
"You're avoiding the question," Kenshin observed.
The dam broke. "All right! Yes! I love her, dammit." It felt so good to finally say it out loud that he did again. "I love her!"
Kenshin, patient as the grave, waited until he had fallen silent and slumped against the support pole. Then he said, "Sano . . ."
Sano's voice was flat. "What."
"People aren't as critical as you think, de gozaro. Maybe they'd talk about it for a little while if you got married, but--" He saw Sano's expression and stopped short.
"How could I ask her to do that? Even if she would."
"Why are you thinking she wouldn't?"
Sano scrubbed a hand over his face. "Kenshin," he said patiently, "sex isn't love. And anyway, how the hell would I support us?"
"The chief is always looking for detectives and policemen."
Sano recoiled. "A cop? Like that dickhead Saitoh? No way!"
"Well, fine. Megumi's supporting herself all right with the clinic. I'm sure--"
"I'm not gonna mooch off my wife." The words my wife felt so good that he scowled.
Kenshin shrugged and dunked the last of the laundry to the rinse water. "If you want to be worthy of her, you're going to have to do something about it, de gozaro. Of course, if this is just an excuse--"
"Dammit, Kenshin!"
"Well, then. Are you staying for lunch?"
Sano looked pensive. "I'll be back for it." He got to his feet and wandered out of the yard.
Kenshin lifted the last sheet and wrung it out. "How long have you been there, Yahiko?"
"Gah! Kenshin!!"
Kenshin's hair hid his smile. "I couldn't hear you practicing anymore, de gozaro."
Yahiko scowled. "Awhile." He looked out of the yard, after Sano. "Kenshin?" he said finally, his fingers tapping restlessly on the handle of the shinai over his shoulder.
"Hai, Yahiko?"
"Sano's really got his head up his butt on this one, doesn't he?"
Kenshin sighed heavily. "Hai."
