Second Chance.

Warning! This story contains explicit homosexual sex! Yay!

Warning #2: This story has very little plot - it's basically just an excuse for me to indulge in some s/s sex.

Part One

Sano watched impatiently as Kenshin laid the last of the wash over the rails and set them up to dry. "Aren't you finished yet?"

"I'd be finished a lot sooner if you'd give me a hand," Kenshin said in his good natured way.

"Yeah, why don't I just tie on an apron and put a ribbon in my hair," Sano muttered.

"Just earning my keep." Kenshin flashed him an innocent wide-eyed smile, but Sano refused to squirm. He'd spent years cultivating his current thick skin, he wasn't about to let himself get guilted into doing anything like working for a living now.

"Sanosuke thinks we should just be grateful for his presence," Yahiko grumbled as he walked by with a load of wood for the kitchen stove. "Don't think you're staying for dinner, lazy-ass."

"I'm not stupid, Yahiko," Sano said benevolently. "If Kenshin's here I know Kaoro's in the kitchen." He didn't have to say any more, the disgusted look on Yahiko's face and the quick grin Kenshin couldn't hide quickly enough said it all.

"There, done," Kenshin said in satisfaction, loosening his sleeves and shaking them down. "Now, what did you want to talk about?"

Sanosuke rubbed his hands on his crossed knees as Kenshin made himself comfortable on the porch, reluctant now the moment had come. "It's nothing important."

"I see." Kenshin leaned his head against a post, studying the bright blue sky absently. It wasn't in his nature to push for confidences, and this actually made it easier for Sano to say what was on his mind.

"I saw Saitou today," he finally blurted out.

"Uh huh," Kenshin encouraged.

"You're not surprised?"

"That he's in town?"

"That he's alive!" Sanosuke snapped. "How long have you known?"

Kenshin looked nonplused. "A while. I met him in Yokohama that last time."

"And you didn't think to mention it to me?" Sanosuke pushed angrily. He climbed to his feet and paced to the edge of the porch. "Didn't it occur to you that I might be interested in knowing he hadn't died in Kyoto?"

"I honestly didn't think of it. You two weren't exactly friends." Remorse lit Kenshin's large expressive eyes. "I'm sorry, Sano."

"He wasn't my friend," Sano muttered, hand gripping the post. "But he was my ally for a while, we fought side by side. When I thought he was dead I..." He broke off, unable to articulate that sense of disbelief that such a powerful force had been snuffed out. That sense of loss that so much had been denied him. "I made decisions based on that time," Sanosuke continued. "Seeing him alive and well and eating noodles makes me wonder if anything that I thought and felt then was real." He closed his mouth, aware he'd revealed much more than he meant to.

But Kenshin's wise eyes were understanding and he smiled gently. "Finding out he's alive doesn't make what you felt when you thought he was dead any less real, Sano. In fact it gives you a whole new set of chances, doesn't it?"

Sano was still tied up in the shock that Saitou was alive, he hadn't thought any further than that. "Chances?"

"Well," Kenshin said vaguely, standing up and dusting off his pants. "Maybe I don't mean chances exactly. But isn't there anything you wanted to say to him? That unfinished feeling when you lose someone can be pretty hard."

"Say?" Sanosuke mused. "I don't know if there's anything I wanted to say exactly."

Kenshin looked back over his shoulder. "You weren't thinking of fighting him again, are you Sano?"

"No, not fighting either," Sano said thoughtfully. He climbed to his feet too. "But you're right, Kenshin. I did have some regrets over that time. I don't like regrets very much."

Kenshin turned all the way back, beginning to look a little nervous. "Sano...?"

Sanosuke grinned and trotted down the stairs, sketching a quick wave with a bandaged hand. "Later Kenshin."

"Um, Sano?" Kenshin called after him, but Sanosuke was already miles away, plans spinning in his head. He really did hate regrets, and he had too many were Saitou Hajime was concerned. Time to take some chances.

End Part One