Aoshi Shinomori did not say anything further the next day, or much after that for the next week.

Instead he sat passively as Megumi Takani conversed happily with some of the passengers at mealtimes - both foreign and Japanese. And he would walk the deck or sit alone while she would continue to socialize in the lounge.

However, within a matter of days, the weather had turned for the worse and even she stopped her nightly visits to the lounge when the ride on the ship became particularly unstable.

Most passengers would stay quietly in their quarters nursing their seasickness. Still braver passengers would venture out for their meals. Still, mealtimes would be the only times they would meet and it would be a quick affair.

The weather was too rough for much of anything, including walking about the boat. Megumi at the moment felt a little uneasy. She had been warned by many to not make the crossing in the winter, but now she understood why. She today already had to unofficially treat a few of the passengers who had fallen ill as a result of the constant motion and warned them to watch their movements and what they ate.

But stubbornly, she hadn't listened to her own advice. After all, Aoshi was perfectly fine. He apparently was one of the few passengers other than the crew who thought nothing of their ship riding 30-50 foot waves. Apparently seasickness was another trait that the man didn't possess.

Sometimes she wished he wasn't too perfect.

Or too stubborn.

Since their little confrontation in the lounge, he had stopped offering advice or any sort of caution entirely. It was as if all communication had hit a wall. At first, she had ignored it, but the last two days while nearly everyone she normally talked to was too ill or locked up in their rooms, she found herself resorting to goading him in order to try to get him to say more than a polite greeting to her.

Still, at least she had his company for this evening's dinner, even if he was largely quiet except for when he had commented on what she had eaten. Today she had been particularly famished; she had made a number of rounds around the boat tending to some of her acquaintances and was tired.

And now they were walking as quickly as they could back to their quarters per the suggestion of the co-captain. Another storm had started and the waters were getting rough again.

After a few bumps and bruises earlier, she had learned to put her hand on the wall for support.

As the boat suddenly shifted, however, that support wasn't enough. She stumbled and with a feeling of horror, felt herself falling backwards.

Aoshi caught her before she hit the floor.

"Are you alright?" It was the first thing he had said to her since dinner.

With his help, she straightened up. "I'm fine. as long as it doesn't happen--"

Her words were cut off by another sudden roll of the boat. This time, with neither of them braced against a wall, the two flew into the other wall and then slid down the length of the floor before hitting the end of the hallway.

"As long as it doesn't happen again?" He finished her statement for her as the boat appeared to settle slightly.

Megumi's head was spinning. Whether it was from the fall, the fact that he was actually talking to her, or that she had found herself entangled with him on the floor with his face just inches away from hers, she couldn't really tell.

At the moment, she couldn't really process anything except for the observation that he was touching her face and head checking for bumps. The voice of Miss Brown suddenly laughed in her head, telling her how she thought the man, who was now lying next to her. was interested in her. As his eyes wandered down to her lips, she crazily thought that he looked as if . . . as if he wanted to kiss her.

She wondered what it would be like to kiss such a man.

Embarrassed by such a thought, she desperately tried to think of something to say. "I didn't know steamships were this clumsy," she said stupidly.

"Or doctors," he added after a moment and turned his head away with a slight smile on his lips.

She made an attempt to move, but found her kimono was pinned somewhere underneath him.

Feeling her discomfort, he sat up and using the wall, pushed himself up. Automatically she gave him her hand so he could pull her up as well, but when she wobbled he didn't let it go.

"I'm alright," she said but stumbled a bit as she felt a wave of dizziness and nausea.

Aoshi gave her a look which told her that she wasn't fooling him.

"Just take me back to my room, please." She made a face. "I knew I shouldn't have eaten so much at the table."

He gave a snort. Actually, she recalled that he had warned about eating too much on a weak stomach. Twice.

She could feel her stomach and its contents slowly turning over, and was grateful that he wasn't the sort of person to be teasing her now for the very undignified picture she made in the hallway. "Please don't say anything," she said through clenched teeth as she clutched her stomach. Her words were particularly ironic given the fact that earlier she had accused him of being completely uncommunicative. Mercifully, Aoshi did not point that out as he helped her back into her room and patiently held out a basin as she lost her dinner.

What he did with that basin afterwards, she had no idea. Nor was she in the state of mind to care. She was sick several more times throughout the night, and was only dimly aware of his presence there and that at some point he had placed her in her bed.

When she woke in the morning, her stomach completely empty and her body weak, he sternly offered her a glass of water and did not allow her to stand.

She took that glass meekly. She had a feeling he was about to tell her something, but interjected. "I know. I should have listened to you."

"You have to save your strength," he said. "And you should be thinking about what is ahead for you. There is someone waiting for you back in Tokyo."

And with that he was quiet again.

Aware of the silence, she thought to say something. Anything. "Is that another reason you disapproved of my activities here on ship?"

He nodded.

She paused, a bit ashamed that she had never allowed Aoshi a chance to talk to her as he had suggested the night they had fought in the lounge. "I'm sorry," she said exhaustedly. "I don't always understand you. Next time, I'll listen more carefully. Just don't tell anyone about this, alright? If it appears that I can't even take care of myself right now, how am I going to mind a four year old?"

"You underestimate yourself," he paused. "You work too hard, but she'll understand."

Her expression spoke of her uncertainty.

He closed his eyes, "To her, these kinds of things - our weaknesses as adults, in our character - these things are not important. They do not define what love is. As long as you are you, and you accept her for who she is, there is no reason to doubt that happiness will follow. As long as you are together, she won't care about the rest."

"Aoshi-" she breathed, moved by the elegance of his words. He made it sound so simple. She repeated the idea behind what he said, "As long as we are together . . ."

As he opened his eyes and looked at her intently, she again wondered if there was something else to his words and his actions. From time to time, he would speak of things as if he understood them personally. And there were the things that others had said to her in the past about him. "Aoshi, I-"

"Rest," his hand was on her shoulder, firmly guiding her back to her bed.

He suddenly turned away, such that she could no longer see those eyes. "I'll be back later." And then he disappeared quickly out the door. She closed her eyes as she heard the sound next door, indicating he was now back in his own room, with the wall between them.

= = = = =

A/N This part was written expressly for the A/M shippers. Megumi has awakened to some kind of awareness , but the figurative wall is still up.