Act 16: Catering to the Sano x Megumi Fans
Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin (I'm still wishing for it though! Hey, my birthday is coming up! Watsuki-sensei, will you give me Kenshin for my birthday??? Pretty please? I promise to take good care of him! Honest!)
Notes: Orororo! *falls over* Gomen, minna-san! I've been hit with a bit of writer's block lately, and I couldn't quite figure out what I want to do next with the fic. As for this chapter, I'm taking a sort of time out and taking the story on a little side trip for a chapter. Don't worry, everybody's favorite ghosties will be back in action, if not by the end of this chapter, than in the next one =p I hope you all don't terribly mind ^^;
Somewhere in Kyoto....
"Hiko-sama, do you need anything? Tea? Food? Sake?
A massage?"
"KUMIKO! COME BACK HERE WITH YOUR FATHER'S KODACHI!"
"And your mother's kunai!"
"'Tousan! 'Kaasan! Catch me if you can!"
So, not too surprisingly, chaos was reigning supreme
and uncontested in the Shinomori household.
Elsewhere, totally and completely unrelated to the
aforementioned situation, Sano stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned,
taking in the sights, feelings almost as though he had never left.
"Fox, I hope you're ready for a big surprise!" He
smirked, gnawing idly on a fishbone he'd found specifically for that day,
while strolling down the changed, but still familiar, streets of Tokyo.
He noted with smug satisfaction to himself that the police officers he
passed in the streets didn't seem to recognize him, despite his having
cut and spiked his hair and shaving the stubble from his face. I guess
they'd be looking for the old me. Sano continued walking, debating
stopping at the Akabeko and seeing how Tae and Tsubame were doing.
The rooster's journey back to Tokyo from Shanghai
had taken considerably longer than he would have liked, but it didn't matter
now. Adjusting his newly acquired Western-style denim pants and loose white
shirt, he marched boldly down the path that would lead him back to the
dojo. Back home.
As he neared the old building, Sano began to hear
the rhythmic sounds of kenjutsu practice, and, feeling a bit mischievous
(or perhaps a little nervous), he jumped into one of the trees and peered
down into the grounds below.
Red hair-? KENSHIN-?! No, wait... that can't
be right. Sano nearly fell out of the tree when he first saw a redhead
swinging a shinai around. The redhead turned slightly, and Sano put two
and two together and got four. No scar, perfectly healthy... 'che, that's
their son? The chibi sure looks a hell of a lot like his father. Sano
grinned slightly as he saw Yahiko- now grown, correcting the boy on his
swings, which resulted in the indignant redhead shouting a less-than-complimentary
remark to his mentor, which then resulted in Yahiko giving the kid a Death
Glare that he had to have learned from Kaoru, before the redhead stuck
his tongue out and took off running.
"Kenji, you jerk! Come back here!"
The pair disappeared around the corner of the bathhouse,
and Sano considered making his entrance.
Until a familiar figure emerged from the bathhouse,
dressed in a fresh kimono, dark hair still damp from bathing. The rooster
head found himself transfixed as Megumi came fully into view.
She's aged. Sano noted. But damn, she's
still beautiful. While Megumi did indeed look a little older and more
stressed than he last recalled her being, he'd learned a few things in
his wanderings, such as how wine, no matter how good it tastes young, becomes
even better with age. The rooster had come to the same conclusion about
certain women.
Meanwhile, Megumi glanced around. There was just
something in the air all morning, almost as if the city was holding its
breath, waiting for something to happen. Something big. She heard some
leaves rustle, and thought she caught a blur of movement out the corner
of her eye, but when she looked, there was nothing there.
"Oi, Fox! What're you lookin' for?" A familiar voice
rang out from the direction of the gate. Megumi gasped and spun around
to see who was there, not daring to hope she'd heard right.
After the series of stressful, unusual, and downright
WEIRD things that had happened in the past month or so, the last thing
she'd expected to find was Sanosuke, fishbone in place, leaning against
the gate, with a confident smirk on his face.
Tori-atama?! Megumi found herself momentarily
not in control of her basic motor functions and spent a long moment just
gaping at Sano. He'd grown up since he'd left Japan all those years ago,
no longer was he a lanky teen, but a nicely-toned grown man. The rooster's
strange Western clothing certainly helped emphasize this fact.
"Miss me, Fox?" Sano grinned, hoping Megumi's shocked
look was a good thing.
After another long moment of no response, Sano walked
over. "Hey, you all right? Y'look like you just saw a ghost."
"S-sano?" Megumi finally regained her senses. "What
are you doing here, rooster head?"
"Hoping to bum dinner off you guys, what else?"
Sano took the foxy doctor's use of her favorite insult as a good sign,
and grinned.
"You--what?!" Megumi's shock wore completely off
and she was back in action, shooting an impressively annoyed look at Sano.
"You hardly write letters, nobody knows if you're even alive for years,
and you think you can come waltzing back in here and freeload like nothing
happened?!"
"Of course not, Fox." Sano glanced around the dojo
grounds. "Yahiko-chan's sure doing a good job keeping the place tidy. How
y'been, Megumi?"
Megumi was about to fire off a suitably sarcastic
response when the rooster's use of her real name and not a nickname registered.
She slumped slightly. "I've been better, Sano. You?"
"A building nearly had to fall on my head before
a couple of ghosts talked me into comin' home." Sano offhandedly replied.
Megumi's eyes widened slightly at the casual mention of ghosts.
"Ghosts-?"
Sano nodded, grinning. "I think y'know who I'm talkin'
about, Fox. Jou-chan and Kenshin, right?"
Megumi nodded agreement, hardly able to believe
that the dojo's residents hadn't been the only ones the ghosts had paid
a visit to.
Kenji came barreling around a corner and nearly
slammed into Sano and Megumi before he could skid to a halt, Yahiko following
suit moments later. The two stared for a moment, Kenji in confusion, Yahiko
is disbelief.
"Who-?" Kenji started to ask when Yahiko interrupted.
"SANOSUKE?!" The Tokyo samurai gawked.
"Long time, no see, Yahiko-chan!" Sano smirked,
watching Yahiko's expression turn from stunned to irritated.
"Don't call me CHAN!"
Thankfully, Yahiko did not resort to his childhood
response of jumping up onto Sano's shoulders and biting his head. He did,
however, skillfully employ a favorite tactic of his late teacher.
In short, Sano got clocked with a bokken.
"Itai-! Good to see you too!" Sano winced at the
large lump on his head.
Poor Kenji was completely lost, as he stared with
growing confusion at the scene playing out in front of him.
"Ano.... Yahiko-kun?" The redhead sweatdropped.
"You wouldn't know him, but-" Megumi informed the
redhead. "-this guy's an old friend of your parents."
Sano stopped rubbing his sore head and regarded
Kenji for a long moment before introducing himself. "The name's Sagara
Sanosuke." Sano paused for a moment before thinking it might be a good
idea to employ a tiny bit of manners. "Y'got my sympathy, kid, about losing
your folks. They were both exceptional people, and I'm not talking about
their kenjutsu."
Kenji nodded slightly, starting to connect this
tall stranger with the stories he'd been told about the so-called 'rooster
head'. "Himura Kenji." He introduced himself. "And... thanks."
"This is great!" Yahiko beamed. "Sano's back! We
should go celebrate at the Akabeko." He grinned wickedly. "Tae still has
your tab, by the way. And she's been calculating interest."
"Eh... heh... great." Sano sweatdropped. He honestly
hadn't expected Tae to STILL remember just how much he owed on his tab.
"And actually, Yahiko, much as I'd love to see if you can hold your sake
any better than you used to, I'd rather just go with Megumi. We can get
all caught up on things later."
Megumi blinked in surprise. The rooster wanted...
to take her out to dinner? He really had grown up.
"Ooh, I get it." Yahiko grinned. "C'mon, Kenji,
let's go make our dinner and leave the rooster and the fox to go have their
romantic evening together- ITAI!"
Sano dusted his hands off and left a very befuddled
Kenji to heft his travel bag off Yahiko. "Y'comin', Fox?"
Dinner had been an awkward event at best, with Tae
making a big fuss over the moocher's homecoming, and Sano and Megumi making
small talk throughout the meal. Both had relaxed considerably when they
left and ended up walking along the riverbank.
"Feels like it was just yesterday we were all walking
by here coming back from Kyoto." Sano remarked. "I had a lot of fun traveling
around the world, but nothing beats coming home."
Megumi nodded slightly, wondering where the evening
would take them. "It's been awhile." She admitted. "Things have changed
so much since then."
Sano was silent for a long moment. It felt strange,
but not unpleasant, to be talking with Megumi on even ground. Before, he
had always felt like she was looking down on him. Maybe it was because
the two of them were the oldest of the surviving Kenshin-gumi, or maybe
it was because they had both matured since the old days. Maybe a little
bit of both. "Y'know, while I was gone, I think I missed you the most,
Fox."
The pair stopped and Megumi regarded Sano thoughtfully
for a moment. "I think I missed you too, Tori-atama." She found herself
smiling at how silly they both must have sounded. There was no 'think'
about it. She had missed him, missed his wisecracks, their verbal sparring
matches, missed the roguish aspect the ex-gangster added to the dojo's
eclectic crew of freeloaders that had somehow formed a family.
"Y'know, you still look amazing even after all this
time." Sano noted.
"And it seems you've finally grown up." Megumi glanced
amusedly at Sano.
"Speaking of growing up... I got something for you."
Sano removed one hand from his pocket. "Took me a lot of effort to get
it and all..."
Megumi's curiosity was piqued. After all, what could
that silly rooster have gotten for her?
Sano smirked and held out his hand, his fist concealing
whatever he was holding. "We aren't getting any younger, Fox, and this
isn't anything fancy but..."
Without further ado, Sano revealed what he was holding,
and Megumi let out a little gasp of surprise.
A small silver ring, nothing fancy, as Sano had
said, and mounting a small amethyst stone on it.
While Megumi accepted it, a solitary ghost watched
over the proceeding, a satisfied smile on his face.
"It's about time you had happiness, Sanosuke." Souzou
said to no one in particular. "I'll have to let Himura and his wife know
that their plan worked."
And somewhere else entirely removed from the sappy
scene previously mentioned...
"Ayame-san? Are you all right?"
"Hai, I'm just thinking."
"About what?"
"I wonder if Ken-niichan ever came back or not."
"I would imagine he did. It's still odd though,
even after all this time, it's still strange to me to hear you call the
man known as the Battousai your 'Ken-niichan'."
"I don't care what he was known as then, Seta-kun.
He's always been the nicest person ever as far as I can remember, and he's
always been my Ken-niichan."
"So you've said."
Closing notes: Eh... little sappy for my tastes, but I think it works.
Just a short little intermission type of chapter, since I think starting
next chapter (and oh, aren't I evil, leaving you all with another cliffhanger?),
the story is going to start to shift gears toward the grand finale everybody's
been waiting for ^_~
JML- Hey, at least Hiko has the ghosts to blame. My sister's
boyfriend hurt himself breaking a stick without any help! =P
Sagara Sanosuke- Keep yer shirt on, Tori-atama, the Hijinks
aren't too far off now! >=D
Vesca- Don't hurt yourself by laughing and falling off your
computer chair =p And that is a good idea you've got concerning the NC-17
rated fics!
Chibigreen Tanuki- Weeell, not so much Aoshi and Hiko getting
beat up by a stick, more like Aoshi and Hiko beating themselves
up on a stick =p
J.Liha- I just have this thing for making guys who are usually
extremely stoic end up showing some kind of emotion you wouldn't generally
expect to see. =) Sorry it's been a couple of months between the updates
though! ._.;;
Mystic Wolf- Glad you liked the story, and yes, "demon bird
kick" is pretty much what it is. And done, you're on the list! (I imagine
if you're reading this, you already saw the update notice sitting in your
inbox =)
Victoria- Glad we got that misunderstanding sorted out, and
good luck on your stories!
Fujifunmum- I dunno... ff.net's been more aggravating than depressing
in my opinion! 'Ray of sunshine'... funny, I was thinking more along the
lines of it being like 'a caffeine jolt early in the morning' ^-^ (Granted,
I'm running almost entirely on caffeine at the moment, so....)
Colleen- Heh, yeah, Hiko's kinda like Alucard from Hellsing-
incredibly badass and awesome, but seriously bordering on unbearable! And
oh, I think his fangirls are really enjoying themselves >=}
Misanagi- Yes, you spelled it pretty much right, and it's really
a morale boost whenever someone says the fic has helped their SDS =) Thanks
for your praise de gozaru!
P-chanmisao- Cool, us tanuki cosplayers gotta stick together!
There were a lot of people supposedly dressed up as Kaoru at AX, but a
lot of them just threw on any old kimono... lot of 'em really weren't all
that great. But I guess not everybody goes by the same cosplay motto I
do! "Anything worth doing is worth OVERdoing!" Actually, one year in the
future, my sister and I are going to both cosplay as Kenshin, since we
look enough alike that we get mistaken for twins a lot. She'll wear her
rurouni costume, and I'll be decked out as Battousai ^_~
Lessee... sorry that this chapter's a tad short, but... it happens. And hark and beware! I turn 21 in 9 days, and will very likely have a couple of drinks at my birthday dinner. God, I hope I'm not as crazy with the mood swings when tipsy as Kaoru is! o_o;
Oh! And I noticed something really funny while playing Chrono Cross! There's a guy you get in your party named Radius. He's an old guy, fights with his walking stick, used to be some kinda really skilled soldier. One of his special attacks is a battou-jutsu attack! (Well, so much as one could perform such an attack with a cane) I nearly fell off the sofa in hysterics =D
Aaaaand, lastly, before I go to bed and pass out because I've only had
about an hour of sleep in the past 36 hours.... Firefury's fanfic recommendations!
Fantaisie Impromptu by Mae. I don't generally read a lot of
AU stories, but this one is neat, and I think it's an original and entertaining
new take on the characters, Kenshin especially.
What Dreams May Come by Suiren. A post-Seisshouhen fic that
makes you almost think it's going to be one of those tear-jerker, mope-around-for-a-week
fics, but ends with a happy warm fuzzy feeling.
And people, there's been a bunch of RK poetry going up lately, give
some a read sometime! =)