Yes, it's been awhile--yes, I left you dangling. That's because I'm evil. Bwahahahahaha!! Kei's name is shamelessly stolen from Ashfae's wonderful "Spark". Thank you Ashfae! Kaoru's comment about the cookie doll refers to a bit from Ep. 89, where Megumi smacks a would-be mugger senseless with a cookie and then coolly observes, "Hmm, it must have been stale." Too, too cool. I had to use it, even tho this is obviously before Ep.89. I'm just pretending she's done it before.

Her brother. Not a lover. Her brother.

When Ayame-chan had said that about Megumi's koibito, Sano had wondered for a horrified minute if it was true--if Megumi had left a sweetheart back in Aizu, one that had come back for her. From the way she'd run at him, you'd'a thought--

Baka he thought angrily. Here she is, first time seeing one of her family for ten years, someone she thought was dead, and you're pissed off cuz she hugged him! Dammit, Sano, you're being a real dickhead tonight!

Megumi, holding her brother's hand, had brought him to stand before the booth. "Minna," she said, eyes sparkling, "this is my brother, Takani Kei." She turned to him. "Kei, these are my friends." She gestured towards each person as she pronounced their name. "Himura Kenshin, Kamiya Kaoru, Myojin Yahiko, Genzai-sensei and his granddaughters, Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan, and--Sagara Sanosuke. We're celebrating Yahiko's birthday."

Kei smiled and nodded as each name was said, but at that, he stepped back. "I don't want to intrude--"

Kenshin spoke up. "There's nothing intrusive about it, Kei-san. You're welcome to sit and eat with us." He smiled. "We can celebrate your reunion too."

"If you're sure you wouldn't mind--"

"Of course not," Megumi said. "Please. Sit."

He sat, right between Megumi and Sano, and Sano had to take a bite of rice in order to keep from growling. As torturous as it had been to sit so close and not touch, there'd been something twistedly fun about it too. Now he couldn't even look at her without making it obvious to the entire world.

Stop it. You're being stupid. It's not a sweetheart, it's her brother. You'll get to look at her all you want--and more. Just wait 'til--

"Tonight?" Megumi's voice held a mixture of surprise and indignation. "Of course you're not staying at an inn tonight, Kei! There's plenty of room at the clinic!"

Sano knocked over the sake bottle. "Sorry," he muttered, righting it. Fortunately, not much had spilled. "I just--sorry."

"That's all right," Kei said generously. He turned back to his sister. "Is there enough room? I don't want to displace anyone, after all."

"It's just me. Don't worry about it."

And me, Sano growled mentally. But he knew that wasn't true. Not really.

Kei, meanwhile, was looking puzzled. "But--your husband?"

The rest of the booth carefully avoided looking at Sano.

Megumi shook her head. "I'm not married, Kei."

"You mean you live alone?"

"I like my privacy."

I like her privacy too.

"But what if something happened to you? A burgler? Really, Megumi, a woman alone--"

She laughed out loud. "Kei, believe me, there's not a criminal in Tokyo stupid enough to try and break into the clinic. For one thing, there isn't a thing to steal."

"And for another," Yahiko put in, "she's got a slap that would lay out a water buffalo." He should know--he'd been on the recieving end more then once.

"And a truly powerful elbow jab," Genzai-sensei muttered, rubbing his stomach.

"And a nasty way with a cookie doll," Kaoru added.

"All right, all right!" Megumi said, going red.

"Maa, maa!" Kenshin said at the same time.

Kei was looking puzzled, but then he grinned. "Your friends like to tease you, Megumi," he said.

"Yes, they do," she muttered, giving them all a mock glare. "I'm really a very peaceful person."

Forgetting himself, Sano snorted into his rice, loud enough for the entire resturant to hear.

She leaned over to see him around her brother. "What was that?"

He leaned over too, grinning at her. If she was going to continue it, he might as well have fun. "Peaceful, my ass, fox. That's why one of my ears is stretched out to twice the size of the other."

Her eyes narrowed, but there was a sparkle in them. "That'll be quite enough out of you, rooster-boy."

"Boy? Boy?" he sputtered, enjoying himself. Fighting was probably the most fun they ever had together--at least, with all their clothes on--and he'd missed it. "'Scuse me, fox, I thought you were a better doctor then that. Don't even know the difference between a boy and a man."

"Sure I know the difference," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Why do you think I said it?"

Sano opened his mouth to say something sexy and provocative that would make her blush bright red--and suddenly remembered exactly where they were, as well as who was sitting between them, watching the entire conversation with wide eyes and open mouth. He shut his own mouth so quickly his teeth clacked together, and then muttered, "Yeah--well--I guess you're mistaken, huh." It was weak, but dammit, he had to say something.

"Ano--Megumi . . ." Kei said hesitantly.

Kenshin said, "Kei-san, Sano likes to tease Megumi-dono, but it really doesn't mean anything."

Sano made himself grin. "Yeah, I'm just havin' fun with the fox." This, he lectured himself, was why he didn't play-fight with her in public anymore. Gods only knew what would come out of his mouth. What had almost come out of his mouth would have blown the whole thing out of the water. Megumi wouldn't want her precious brother to know what they'd been up to. Sano didn't want that stiff knowing what they'd been up to.

"So!" Megumi said brightly, changing the subject. "Kei, you never told me how you escaped the fire or where you've been these last ten years."

Kei shrugged, turning away from Sano. "I was one of the lucky ones, I suppose. I don't really know how I got out of Aizu--the next thing I remember is waking up in a cabin two weeks later. Some mountain villagers had found me and taken me to the village doctor. I was also lucky in that he had actual medical training instead of some of those herb- and prayer-quacks you get in those remote areas. After I got well, I decided to stay on with him for several years to finish my own training. I came back to civilization four years ago and set up a practice in Aizu. Enough people remember Father that it's doing rather well." He gave a little shrug and a self-depracating smile. "I really do feel fortunate. I didn't have to live through the worst of the Bakumatsu, like so many of our old acquaintances. You wouldn't believe some of the things they do to survive." His mouth twisted in distaste. "Thievery, prostitution, begging, organized crime--such a come-down. It's as if they have no pride in their family names anymore."

The color had slipped out of Megumi's face, leaving it white as bone. The Kenshin gumi was utterly silent, everyone avoiding Megumi's gaze. They all knew what she'd had to do to survive since the Bakumatsu.

Sano wanted to reach out and touch her, stroke her clenched hand, rub her taut shoulders, comb his fingers through the ends of her hair--something that would tell her without words, Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what it's like. Up there in his little mountain cocoon, he doesn't know what it was like for everyone down here, when family names and pride ceased mean anything before the sheer struggle to survive. He's an idiot.

But he couldn't reach out, not with her brother between them.

Sano wondered how Takani Kei would look with all his teeth punched out.