The cries of "Horsie, horsie" echoed around the courtyard of the dojo.

This time Sanosuke and Yahiko were mercilessly subjected to the tyranny of the children and forced to run helter skelter while Megumi Takani looked on with amusement.

Only six days here in Tokyo, and the craziness of the last ten months had somehow disappeared behind her. Life in the dojo had quickly become an easy and familiar routine.

Maybe too easy.

Megumi stood on the wooden floors of the porch outside her quarters, her hand resting on one of the beams that supported the roof over the porch. She was doing nothing in particular, except reflecting on the past six days. She had done so much in that time -- visiting old friends and patients, making new friends, and making sure to spoil the children.

But what no one at the dojo knew was that during those six days her mind had been quietly occupied by two conversations, and two choices.

~

The evening she had returned, Ayame, Suzume and the blushing Uki had suddenly appeared in the kitchen, insistent on taking over the cleaning and packing of food.

When she had graciously tried to turn them away, Suzume had awkwardly stated that her grandfather had wanted to see her.

Dutifully, she allowed Kaoru to help her undo the smock she had over her clothing and went to seek out Gensai-sensai. She found him, happily entertaining Kenji among the company of the other men who were in the midst of a serious discussion on the affairs of Japan. As soon as she appeared, however, they withdrew - each giving her a studied look as they went out separately.

She greeted Gensai-sensei with a bow and a smile before pouring him a cup of medicinal tea she had concocted for his rheumatism. She had noted with sadness over dinner that while he was still as sharp as a tack, his body was no longer able to keep up with his mind. For a time they talked amiably about what she had learned in America, and how she found the doctors to be. With another of his kind smiles, Gensai turned the topic to her niece. And then, without any warning, he simply told her that his former clinic would again be available to her if she wanted to practice there.

According to her mentor, his current successor was himself getting on in years. As she was still remembered very well in these parts, both he and Gensai were more than happy to turn the practice over to her. It was a logical choice.

But she hesitated. He smiled again at her, and reached out across the table to place his hand over hers, silently promising to support her in whatever she decided. She found herself promising to think about it.

And that she did early into the morning, unable to really sleep as she considered the offer made. And so she was in a rather strange state of mind when she received her second surprise.

She had simply meant to catch Aoshi Shinomori before he skulked off before dawn. Like her, he avoided drawn out goodbyes, and she suspected from his behavior the previous evening, that he would not wait until everyone was up to depart.

"I'm not going to keep you," she surprised him at the gate with a bundle of food which she then pressed into his hands. "But you can not leave with nothing in hand. Your doctor forbids it."

"Forbids?"

The slight shift in his expression reminded her that it was very unlikely that anyone had ever dare forbid Aoshi Shinomori from doing or not doing anything.

"Well, even you have to eat at some point. . . I know it's not up to your Aoiya tastes, but traditional Edo cooking should have its uses."

"Ah. Thank you."

She sighed. Any other man would have understood that a compliment would have been a more appropriate response to her backhanded description of her own cooking, but she took small satisfaction in noting that the box of food disappeared somewhere into his trenchcoat anyways.

As he turned slightly towards the door, she took a step after him. "Aoshi- san-"

He looked back towards her. "Megumi-san?"

Megumi remembered that she felt rather foolish for obviously hindering his departure. "I - We will come to Kyoto soon. In two or three weeks time. I want to thank Okina --"

His quiet voice had an edge of surprise in it. "You will not be staying in Tokyo?"

His question had caught her off guard. It had no connection to her other statement. "You know that I have to head back to Aizu to settle some matters -"

"Gensai-sensei mentioned that the clinic would be yours to manage."

"Oh," her eyes widened. It was then she had realized that Gensai's offer to her had become known the others. "Tokyo, well. . . Meg-chan and I need some time first to sort through things and spend time together alone."

"Megumi-san, if you do not want to be too close to Tokyo-- Kyoto too has need for physicians." He continued, "When you come to visit, you will see that to be so."

"Really?" she answered somewhat lazily. She supposed that to be the case but -

He interrupted her thoughts. "Yes. You have a place there if you desire it, amongst your friends."

The words themselves had been completely neutral, but the something about the tone of his voice made her look up at him. "Friends?"

The intensity with which he gazed at her seemed to confirm that, but also confused her. She remembered her cheeks growing hot as she gazed back at him, a ghost of a smile on her lips as she tried desperately to spit out some clever retort. It took several more seconds than she had wanted, but she managed finally to find something to defuse her embarrassment. "We'll let Okina decide that issue for me. Living too close to that man might be very trying after all."

He snorted lightly and turned away. "Give my regards to the Himuras. We will be waiting for you in Kyoto."

~

She hadn't realized that she was now frowning as she dwelled on that conversation. He had never quite answered the question for her, had he? Had she in fact seen something there in his eyes, as she had before, or was it a simple trick of her mind or her memory?

Was the expression in his eyes a mirror of his guilt which she believed influenced many of his kindnesses to her as of late?

"Oi, Fox Lady."

She opened her eyes cautiously, very aware that Sanosuke had caught her standing there like an idiot.

His grin told her that he wasn't going to let her off easily. "Whatcha doing just standing there on the porch with a face like that for? Being lazy are you?"

Megumi narrowed her eyes at the man. "You're the one to talk. . . accusing me of being lazy. I was just thinking of all the work I have to do when you're around."

"Hey," Sanosuke looked miffed. "It's not all fun and games taking care of these little monsters. You try to keep Kenji entertained while Kenshin and Kaoru are busy. And with family here, it's not easy to do even that. This is the one of the few free minutes I have had in a week with everyone out shopping and you have to ruin it by nagging me."

"I'm sorry." Megumi realized that Sanosuke looked more hurt than irritated. And the truth was she hadn't even had one thing to complain about. "I didn't really mean it. I am grateful really for you playing with Meg-chan. It's just that I'm a little bit anxious about the trip back up to Aizu. Meg-chan is so comfortable here that I think she'll have a hard time. And there is so much to do in Aizu and so much to think about."

"You know, fox-lady, you worry too much." He said lightly. "So, when do you return?"

"Return?"

"Ayame and Suzume told us that the clinic is yours. Your clinic up in Aizu has new doctors - and you have your family now so, obviously, you don't have to stay there."

"I-- " she hesitated, uncertain now of what to say. She prayed that he would not press too much further. "We'll be up in Aizu for a while. My brother's affairs have to be settled and things moved."

"Kaoru mentioned that you'd be up there for about two weeks."

"Ye-es." She was starting to see that her affairs were in fact public knowledge. "And then Meg-chan and I are off to Kyoto."

"To Kyoto?" His face twitched slightly.

"We must go to thank Okina for all he's done. If it were not for his help, I do not know if I would have ever found my brother, or his daughter."

Sanosuke relaxed slightly. "And then back to Tokyo?"

"Well -"

He stiffened and turned to look at her. "Now I know you're hiding something. Just spit it out, woman and be done with it."

She sighed. "Aoshi-san mentioned that there were plenty of opportunities for physicians there. It's worth considering --"

Sanosuke's jaw muscles worked slightly, indicating that he wasn't pleased at all.

"I've told you, there is nothing going on, it's just that Kyoto has much to offer -"

"More than we can here, is that it?"

"I have no idea why you are so upset, Sanosuke Sagara."

"You have no idea?! Let me remind you."

He suddenly pulled her off the porch and half a second later, she felt his lips seize hers.

For a few glorious, dizzy seconds, she was caught up in the kiss - until the moment she realized that she was thinking more about how it satisfied her craving for affection rather than about the person who held her in his arms.

"Sanosuke." She pushed him away and turned her head. It wasn't the right time. She was too confused about many things . . . this wasn't the time to talk about the issue of them. She had wanted to get away to just think, and now this was making things far more complicated.

An edge of bitterness tainted his response. "I see how it is. You'll still go to Kyoto, won't you?"

"I told you that I'm going to visit Okina. It has nothing to do with you and me."

"You're right," he said matter of fact. "But it has everything to do with Aoshi Shinomori."

"Sano! I've told you over and over --"

"You may think I'm slow, but I'm not deaf," he said somewhat tiredly. "I know what you've said but think about it for yourself, fox-lady. Here in Tokyo you have most of your friends. What is there in Kyoto to consider staying for except Aoshi Shinomori? Did you ever consider that? If no," he finally turned away, "then you had better open your eyes to that."

"Sano, please -" Megumi raised a hand out towards him as he started to walk away. "Please, wait."

He paused, but did not turn to address her. "I can't wait for you Megumi. You know I'm not the kind of guy to put my life on hold."

Had he chosen to look back at that very moment, he might have seen that his words had not fallen on deaf ears, by any means. Megumi's eyes watered suspiciously with emotion.

But instead, he slammed the gate shut behind him.

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A/N: Ho ho ho ho ho!! If this were the normal fic, Sano and Meg would kiss and make up in the next section. But this is not the normal fic is it? So don't expect that readers. Instead, things go from mega-angst to big trouble.

And yes the part of the cool guy who gets to sweep Megumi off her feet is still being decided by moi based on the comments of reviewers.

Muhahaha!

However to be fair, I'm going to switch the categorization temporarily on this fic. The safest way to always search for the fic is just pulling down "Megumi" and not a second character.

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