Another Chance: Enter the Rooster
A fanfic set in the Rurouni Kenshin universe
standard disclaimers apply

As the ship drew into the bay that served as Tokyo's harbor, Sanosuke Sagara gave a low whistle. Five years had changed the somewhat quiet town into something else entirely.

"Amazing isn't it?" One of the crewmen stepped alongside him. "Since the opening of Japan to the West, a lot of folks have come through here. It's no Yokohama, but this government is determined to build this port up as well."

This government -- the Meiji government he so despised -- was bringing Japan into the modern world whether he liked it or not. Perhaps that was why he had run off to the American Wild West and then off to Mongolia. The world had been changing too quickly for him.

As he disembarked the ship, he wryly noted that amongst the many Westerners and Japanese his gi rather stuck out. It did not bother him that much - in the last five years he had rather stuck out everywhere he had ventured. But thankfully, most people took a look at his rather intimidating presence and left him alone.

In addition to the changes in dress, the streets of Tokyo had changed. Gone were the quiet streets, to be replaced by much busier ones. In a way, Tokyo now reminded him of Kyoto of years past -- exciting but noisy.

His feet were automatically taking him along the path of familiar places. The sight of a particular shop made him stop for a moment. He stepped inside into and gladly inhaled the smells of traditional Japanese food and quickly found one of the servers. "Excuse me."

"Yes?" The young girl's eyes widened at the sight of the man who nearly filled the door frame with his height. "Is Tae around?"

"No, sir. She'll be back later," she answered and then hesitated as if recalling a distant memory. "Sagara-san?"

"Yeah?"

"Sagara-san!" The girl laughed, "Yahiko had just been talking about you the other day."

He squinted and looked at the girl more closely. "Tsubame?"

"Yes," she nodded enthusiastically. "You remembered!"

"Oi!" Sanosuke laughed, "I didn't recognize you." Tsubame had definitely changed into a taller and prettier girl -- definitely no longer the 12 year old child he had last remembered. "If you've changed this much, then Yahiko must be nearly a man now." He smiled, "So Yahiko is still here in Tokyo, huh?"

"Of course," Tsubame blushed. "He's the apprentice master at the Kamiya dojo now. He should be there right now."

"Wouldn't miss the chance to spar with that one." Sanosuke drawled. Poor Tsubame looked horrified at his choice of words. "I won't hurt him too much if he's as good as he should be."

He couldn't help but enjoy himself as he teased the girl. If she really was still that stuck on Yahiko, she had better get used to Yahiko's fighting ways. "Don't worry too much, kid." He patted her head and handed her a bag. "Give this to Tae if you will and tell her I managed to keep my promise after all."

Sanosuke gave a wave and stepped out of the Akebeko whistling a little tune. He knew he should have waited; in fact, he would have liked to see Tae's expression when she opened that bag and realized that he had paid back all his debts, with interest. But he dare not risk receiving a lecture. Anyways, he was anxious to pay a visit to the dojo.

As he walked away from the Akebeko, he nearly took several wrong turns. Various landmarks had disappeared, but as he drew near the dojo, he became more certain of his directions. Things were still familiar here or perhaps it was just better etched into his memory. As he stopped in front of the gate clearly marked with the family name Kamiya, he wondered if it truly had been that long since he was last here.

He opened the wooden gate and stepped inside. It was quiet, quiet like it had been then on some of the better days. Laundry hung on lines, fluttering gently in the breeze. Toys were strewn on one of the porches, just like when Ayame and Suzume used to play here. It was like stepping back in time.

After a moment though, he heard chants from the main room. A smile crossed his face as he realized that in fact, time had moved forward. These chants were certainly those of students. From the sound of it - nearly a dozen were in there practicing their drills. So it seemed that Kaoru had found many to pass on the Kamiya-kashin style to after all.

His appearance on the grounds did not go unnoticed for long. Within a few minutes, several young boys around Yahiko's age (or rather Yahiko as he last remembered him) came out and looked at him suspiciously. "Are you looking for someone?" one of the bolder ones called out.

"I'm looking for the master and her husband," Sano called back.

"They're not here," the boy answered somewhat defiantly.

Sano raised his eyebrow.

"Shiro," a stern voice called out from inside the training room."That is no way to talk to visitors."

"Myojin-san," the boy bowed apologetically and none too politely whispered loudly, "The man out there is kind of disreputable looking. He's wearing some kind of funny gi. What Japanese men except gangsters still wear gi?"

"Gi?" Yahiko Myojin stepped out to see this for himself. He blinked as if he were seeing a ghost. "Sanosuke?"

"Of course," Sano drawled as he recognized the tall teenager. "Who the hell else would it be?"

"Sano!!" Yahiko pounced on him and was already beating him with his wooden stick. "You can't just show up like this scaring the students. Kaoru would have your head for that you big stupid oaf!"

Sano grinned as he evaded Yahiko's wooden weapon. Good old Yahiko -- always ready for a fight. The kid was certainly stronger, but his temper still needed some work. After a few of the hits connected, Sano decided he had enough. He flicked Yahiko off like a little bug, who ended up on the ground with a mouthful of dust. "Funny way of welcoming back an old friend, Yahiko."

A gasp from the students reminded him they had an audience. "Sensei!" they cried out as they rushed over to him.

"Man!" Yahiko waved them off and stood up, brushing off the dust on his clothes. He was glaring at Sano now. "After all this time, I still can't beat you."

Sano rubbed his head, "Well, it's not like I haven't been training hard either. But you should feel good that you connected a few times. And your hits do hurt." Yahiko's students looked pretty ticked at this point. Sano grinned, "I think you should get back to your class. They look like they're ready to kill something. Plus Kaoru will be pretty annoyed that I interrupted your class."

"You're not going to take off again are you?" Yahiko looked a bit anxious. "Kenshin and Kaoru will be back soon. and there is no reason to go, your warrant was dismissed."

"Really?" Sano looked a little pleased. "Well then, I'll just wander around a bit and come back for dinner."

"Great!" Yahiko answered, and then paused when the students behind him groaned. "I mean -- are you sure about that? Kaoru is cooking, and she's well . . ."

"Still terrible huh?" Sano smirked."Well, I wouldn't have it any other way. Later!"

"Later!" Yahiko beamed and turned back to his students. As the gate shut behind Sanosuke, Yahiko whispered loudly to his students. "That's the guy Kaoru-sensei always refers to as the Rooster head."

Sano's face ticked as he heard the kids ooh and ahh.

Roosterhead.

It was a name that he had hadn't heard in a long time. Most people he had run into on his travels would have thought twice before calling him a name like that. He only allowed his friends or people who knew him well enough to get away with that. Anyone who else dared try would have felt one of his trademark punches.

Not that many earned that right. The truth was -- his skills in fighting and the martial arts kept him moving. Stories about his fist of destruction kept drawing young punks out of the woodwork who wanted to challenge him. It was a tiring affair. He didn't particularly enjoy beating up these kids and then all the other riff-raff who wanted to test their strength, so he would pick up every so often and move on.

In between taking on the odd requests for help he received from locals wherever he happened to be, he sought out masters of various disciplines. In the West he had learned a few things about the street brawl, and traveled with both the Natives and the cowboys, as the Americans referred to themselves as. But there wasn't much discipline in the fight and he found himself bored quickly. After a chance encounter with several masters of karate and kung-fu in California, he decided to seek out additional training in China and Mongolia.

He was a quick student - and even though the masters insisted that he would needed a lifetime to train with them - he found himself mastering these styles within an impossibly short span of time. Honestly, it did not surprise him, for he had similar experiences during the Juppingatina battles.

At some point he realized that quite a bit of time had in fact passed. It was when the fighting no longer was as much fun. Without Kenshin and the others around, the novelty of learning new things wore off. It wasn't quite the same. And slowly he realized how much he wanted to see them -- the people who he called friends. Even if it meant that it was time to face the music, as the Westerners liked to say, and face reality.

He found it highly ironic to come back to Japan and find there was no warrant for his arrest. That and to be treated this way again, just like an ordinary man - - of course, an ordinary man with a reputation and a few things to still settle. He almost looked forward to it now -- settling scores, even if simply for fun. He could think of a few people on that list -- those who had beaten him in the past. He was far stronger now, and ready to show it.

His smile faded slightly as he considered that many of these men were now older and probably had given up their fighting ways. (Kenshin and Saitou had to definitely be pushing middle age at this point, especially since they were both settled men.)

"Can I help you?"

Startled, Sanosuke looked up. A middle aged man with glasses peered at him from the gate of a small building. Just where had he walked himself off to?

"Are you hurt, sir?" The man asked kindly as he took in Sano's scruffy appearance." Are you looking for a doctor?"

Doctor? Of course. He recognized the building; he had wandered over to Gensai-sama's old clinic. "Is Gensai-sama still here?"

"Gensai?" The man gave him a curious look. "He's retired now and living with his granddaughters on the other side of town. Are you an old patient of his?"

"You could say that." He paused, "A friend, and very frequent patient. His assistant used to have to patch me up from time to time."

"Ah yes," the man smiled."--The pretty young doctor. She's not here either. She's up in Aizu-Wakamatsu last I heard."

The slight look of disappointment on Sano's face did not go unnoticed by the kindly man. "Gensai-sama offered her this clinic when he decided to retire, but well, she has her reasons for staying up there. So I came instead. Gensai-sama said she's doing well though up there by herself."

"By herself."

"Yes. Yes, it's amazing when you consider it. A woman doctor practicing on her own. I tell you these are modern times indeed. Of course, my information could be outdated now. Gensai-sama hasn't stopped by in a month or so, so you should go see him. I don't remember if I have the woman doctor's town right, but I think that is correct. It was her family home, I believe. If you'll wait here, I'll go write down his address for you."

The man gave Sano a rather amused smile before disappearing inside to look for paper. He reemerged a few seconds later with a slip of paper in hand. As Sano took it, he suddenly got annoyed. "Look doctor, I don't mean to be rude, but you shouldn't be giving out her address just like that. You don't know what kind of weirdos out there might be trying to harass the doctor-"

The man shook his head. "No, no. I don't give it out to just everyone. My goodness-" he stared at Sano, "I'm not that gullible. Tons of men have asked after that doctor, and I just pretend to be my senile self and tell them I don't know. But you-" he chuckled to himself , "--Gensai-sama told me to keep an out for a guy with a gi and give him both his address and Takani-san's address if he needed to be patched up. You're the only guy to come by with a gi in the time I've been here, so I figured you had to be the guy that was constantly getting hurt."

"Oh," Sano wasn't sure whether to be pleased, outraged, or embarrassed. Just what did Gensei mean by his instructions? "I'm sorry, sensei. Thank you." Sano bowed politely and made a proper farewell before walking back the way he had come from, staring at the paper in his hand.

His hand was feeling a bit sore from all that fighting. Perhaps he would go see the doctor after all and settle an old promise.



A/N: In the contest of the Ice man vs. Roosterhead fans, Ice man is ahead thanks to a few persistent reviewers. (Too many Sano/Meg fics I guess breed apathy.)

Anyways - the reasons for this fic. Well, Watsuki himself puzzled over this relationship question in one of his interviews. Some fans liked Aoshi and Megumi because they looked good together. Others like Sano and Meg because of their interactions. There are always problems with either pairing. But both seem to make sense to me for different reasons. So it comes down to the issue of Sense vs. Sensibility as typified in the book of the same name. ^_^ Anyways , discuss away in your reviews.