A/N: So sorry it took me so very long to update. School has been absolutely wild the last few weeks before Christmas break. Plus I kept finding holes in Chapter Three, so...rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. I hope these chapters please, then. ^.^ Arigatou! And happy Christmas to all! ^.^
Yoake Mae no Yami ni
by Mirune Keishiko
Four: Interlude
Megumi awoke with a start. From the brightness and angle of the sunlight, it was hours past her accustomed waking time. She rarely overslept, and she mentally shook a finger at herself as she got up and began to roll her futon. I must really be getting old, she sighed to herself as she put it away in the cabinet.
The noise of Yahiko's morning class echoed from the training hall as she made her way to the kitchen, eager for breakfast. She stopped dead in the doorway, astonished to see Sanosuke inside, his back to the door as he stoked the fire. A large pan was topped by a round bamboo contraption unfamiliar to Megumi; through the woven lid steam rose in silvery curls. Megumi blinked. Sanosuke in a kitchen was shock enough, but actually cooking...?
"Ohayou, kitsune," he said over his shoulder to where she stood still in the doorway, grappling with her amazement. "I ate everything the little girl made, so you'll have to suffer my kinda grub instead."
Megumi blinked several times before she realized he was referring to Tsubame. She shook her head and laughed, more at herself than at him. "I gather the rooster's learned some new tricks."
"Oei, don't knock it. Yahiko didn't complain, and you know how that kid can whine." An enormous sneeze echoed from the training hall, startling Megumi and momentarily silencing the usual noise of the students. Sanosuke laughed out loud as he lifted the lid to peek inside.
When Megumi came up to have a peek herself, he quickly dropped the lid, smiling at her teasingly. "Nope, an artist never lets anybody see his work till it's finished."
"And since when have you been an artist? Besides, I'm terribly hungry. If that takes too long, I don't care about exotic dishes, I'm fixing something myself." But her tone was light and she sat down on a covered barrel to watch him work.
"This is almost done. It's not usually eaten with rice, but I made some anyway in case it's too weird for ya."
Megumi found her eyebrows rising, almost of their own accord, at the unconscious tone of authority in his voice. She stood and began setting out bowls and plates on trays. Behind her, Sano made little exclamations of satisfaction, half to himself, as he uncovered whatever it was he had prepared and began to arrange them with a pair of hashi on a dish. Smiling with amusement, Megumi carried the trays to the dining hall.
The dumplings were plump and succulent, and Megumi found herself daintily devouring one after the other, begrudging Sano the two or three he ate. He rattled off several Chinese names for them as she listened attentively, saving up the information to find out more about these delectable morsels later. She tasted crab and egg in one, pork and mushrooms in another, and wondered what the world had done to turn the lazy, swaggering, mooching ex-gangster into a cook almost of Kenshin's caliber.
"Where on earth did you get all these ingredients? Please don't tell me you've been to the market." That, she felt, would be too impossible a miracle.
He shook his head. "Bought 'em off Tae when I went to pick up some of my stuff from the Akabeko. She damn near fainted when I paid my tab."
Megumi choked on a piece of shrimp. For several moments she coughed and wheezed, until the offending piece of food finally went down properly and she could stare at him full force. "You paid," Megumi spluttered, "your tab?"
"Yeah, that's what she said." Sanosuke was frowning as though personally insulted. "'You're paying (wheeze, cough) your tab?' Then that daughter o' hers had to catch her. Boy, she's kinda scrawny comin' from a babe like her mom."
Megumi decided to chew instead of laugh, not daring to risk another inelegant episode of respiratory confusion.
"Saw Yahiko teachin' his class. He probably doesn't realize it, but he acts a lot like Jou-chan when he's around his students. 'Cept even he doesn't whack 'em on the head that much."
Megumi smiled, but the mention of Kaoru was sobering, and it reminded her of the work she had yet to do for the day. The dimsum plate sat empty before her, and before Megumi could react, Sanosuke had picked it up.
"You're cleaning up?" she said before she could think. As she gaped at him, Sano was indeed gathering up the plates and bowls she had just cleaned out.
"Got some stuff o' my own I gotta take care of. So I might as well wash these up too." He spoke lazily as ever, but there seemed to be a flush of color across his tanned face. Megumi decided to hold her tongue as he disappeared into the kitchen with the trays and dishes. Some miracles were best appreciated in silence.
She went to examine Kaoru, who had slept without incident since the previous night. The shoji stood wide open; Kenji was practicing outside, but Megumi could see him constantly glancing into the room, still keeping an eye on his mother.
She checked Kaoru's vital signs and went to the kitchen to prepare the next dosage of morphine as scheduled. As Kaoru's tolerance to the drug increased, the dosages would over time need to be larger and more frequent—but for now, Megumi pushed that knowledge to the back of her mind as she carefully filled the syringe with the same weak dosage she had administered the night before.
She returned to Kaoru's room to find Sanosuke crouched silently beside the younger woman's bed. He lifted dark, haunted eyes to Megumi as she walked in.
"Is she gonna wake up any time soon?" It was almost a whisper.
Megumi sighed, turning back to her syringe. "I really can't tell. That's up to her now. She's been sleeping like that since last night. It's entirely possible that she won't wake up again before—"
She caught herself, shook her head to dislodge the thought. Sano said nothing as she moved up to the bed.
"What's that?" he asked quietly, catching sight of the needle in her hand.
"Something for the pain." Megumi swabbed alcohol on the soft pale skin of Kaoru's arm.
Sano winced and looked away as the needle found its target. "Is that what's makin' her sleep?"
"This and the exhaustion of her body as it tries to fight off the disease, hai."
Her voice was measured, wary. Megumi checked a sigh. The Sanosuke of old would have been too wary of drugs to keep silent; he would have demanded angrily as to Kaoru's permission, the effects of the drug on her, the deadened state in which she was kept alive. And so Megumi tensed, awaiting the outburst.
But all he said was, "How long you think she's got left?"
Megumi glanced at him in surprise, but his face was hidden in the fall of his unruly hair. "As I told Yahiko... maybe a month."
He said no more, merely settled into his customary semi-sprawled sitting position with one leg stretched out and the other tucked underneath him, staring gravely at Kaoru. Megumi quietly busied herself gathering up her instruments and packing them away in her kit. Sanosuke did not move as she slipped out of the room.
Megumi was heading for the kitchen when Kenji's low, polite voice called her to a halt.
"Takani-sensei." Kenji bowed gracefully as she turned toward him. "Please forgive my rudeness, but may I ask about that man who has just arrived?"
Megumi smiled. "He is Sagara Sanosuke, a very good friend of your mother's and father's. He's been out of the country since before you were born, so it's no wonder you don't know him."
"Is he the one who sent Otousan home?" Kenji's wide blue-violet eyes were far away.
"Hai. Sumanu, I'll introduce you two immediately—" But Megumi, who had quickly made to go back to Kaoru's room, was stopped by Kenji's hand on her arm.
"Iie. That won't be necessary. Thank you very much for your trouble." Kenji gave her a smile that did not quite reach his eyes, and Megumi felt a wave of sadness suddenly come over her. She offered her best fake smile in return and went on her way to her room.
Kenji had joined Yahiko in welcoming her to the dojo five months ago, and she had constantly been around him as they'd arranged Kenshin's funeral and in the weeks before he'd left for Kyoto. Nevertheless, every encounter with him left something inexplicable gnawing at her spirit. Something about that boy disturbed her, he who otherwise resembled his parents so much.
Still, he obviously loved his mother, and for that alone Megumi was prepared to grant him the space he seemed to demand of everyone he met. As she walked on toward the studying she had yet to finish, she heard him resume his kata behind her, and wondered if Kaoru could hear.
~ tsuzuku ~
glossary:
hai = yes
ohayou = good morning!
