glossary:

ora ora = all-purpose Sanoism: frustration, sarcasm, etc.

sugoi = cool!

kempo = a style of fighting employing lots of kicking and punching; Aoshi taught this to Hannya ^.^

ki = spirit; also, more loosely, the battle-aura of a warrior that can indicate his next move in a fight ^.^

hawatari = "passing through the blade" (bottomless thanks to that old great, RK Archive—your memory is evergreen in my heart~); a technique of stopping an attacking blade with your own hands and then counterattacking.  The Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu succession technique ^.^

gambatte = Good luck!  Do your best!

ougi = succession technique; the ultimate technique in a martial arts school that, once mastered, makes you a, um, master of that school. ^.^

kenkaku = fighter

ja = (among other meanings) well then...

itsu mo no you ni = like always...

demo = but

shihandai = adjutant master.  I don't know if Kaoru was ever "promoted" past this level, but at the beginning of RK (and after her father died), she held this rank.

gomen ne = sorry...

onegai = please

kenki = "spirit of the sword," or battle aura. See "ki".

---

Yoake Mae no Yami ni

by Mirune Keishiko

Nine:  Tsuyoku Naritai

Twilight settled on the dojo amidst a soft, sleepy chorus of crickets.  Shouts of farewell echoed from the training hall and there was soon a massive pounding of many feet in several directions—toward the students' rooms upstairs, the baths in the outhouses, and the kitchen across the courtyard, where Tsubame with the servants was organizing dinner preparations.  Megumi, busily sketching formulas and reading notes in her room, squelched a smile as she paused in her work; she had long since given up trying to help with the evening meal, since Tsubame already had her hands full with her small army of assistants crowding in and out.

 "Ora ora!  Smells like a pharmacy in here, all right!"

And with that inelegant salutation, Sanosuke slid open the shoji facing the courtyard and peered in, apparently just returned from a trip to the Akabeko.  Megumi glanced up at him irritably from her work.

 "I don't recall asking you to smell anything around here, or even breathe," she said calmly.  Then she raised an eyebrow and looked more closely at the rumpled hair that brushed the neat bunches of herbs dangling from the ceiling to dry.  "Why, toriatama, I see you've finally decided to reclaim your title."

Sano shrugged, but his broad grin belied all pretense at nonchalance.  "Gets in the way in a fight."

And Megumi chuckled, remembering the scene of that early afternoon.

Yahiko, resting after his lunch, had furiously collared Sanosuke the moment the older man had set foot again on the dojo grounds, and the students were treated right then and there to a fearsome display of Yahiko's Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu and Sano's assorted barehanded techniques.  It had been Megumi's first time to see the tremendous advancement in skill, strength, and speed the two fighters had made over the last fifteen years.  Her mouth had actually dropped open at the first pass, when Yahiko's lightning-fast attack was neatly dodged at the last moment by Sano, whose fist then arced toward his opponent's open side and would have connected with ribs had Yahiko not spun with his bokken in a wicked swing that was, however, ultimately evaded.  The awed students soon hushed, except for one older boy near Megumi who kept up an enthusiastic, running analysis of the two warriors' moves to an awestruck younger companion.

 "Sugoi!  The centrifugal force triples the force... but the roosterhead's too fast for him, and—eh!  What a kick!  That didn't look like kempo though—wish I had flexibility like that!  But sensei's on to him now, and see, the look in his eyes—he's trying to read the roosterhead's next move.  I'm nowhere as good as sensei, but the roosterhead's hiding his ki really well.  Sensei can't use his signature moves 'cause his opponent's unarmed.  But—ah!  First move!  Sensei's so brave—kuso!  Did you see that?!  A hawatari—haa~! Gambatte sensei!  That was almost as good as our ougi; the roosterhead's at an advantage.  But of course sensei knows how to counter that..."

It had all ended in a matter of seconds, though Megumi felt the fight had lasted far longer.  The dust had settled to reveal a couple of very tired kenkaku lying flat on the ground, eyes closed, huge grins spread across their sun-browned faces.

 "You almost sprained my wrist, Yahiko-chan."

 "Serves you right.  My head's still ringin'."

 "Not my fault this stupid hair gets in my face."

 "You're right, it is stupid hair."

They would have resumed fighting at that point, except that Yutarou had arrived for his afternoon class and hastily broken up the impending battle before his dainty heiress of a fiancée fainted dead away in shock at such naked violence.  Megumi, grumbling loudly about wasting her time on two fighting idiots when she could be continuing her research, had seen to the more serious of their injuries before sending them away.  The two then promptly inhaled a hearty lunch Tsubame whipped up with godlike speed; and even though Yahiko had eaten just before the fight, his appetite after it was fairly evenly matched with Sano's.  After a civil discussion of grass, seed, and the oncoming winter, Yahiko had retired to bear his bruises heroically in the eyes of his worshipful students, while Sanosuke had left to stable Fuuko at the Akabeko and retrieve the last of his luggage.

 "It was a man's fight.  Everything's settled now."  Sanosuke leaned against the doorway to Megumi's room with an air of satisfaction.

 "And I thought two full-grown men like you would actually be able to meet again without drawing blood."  Megumi shook her head ruefully as she gathered her papers into a neat stack; the dinner bell was clanging.  "I was surprised you let him make contact at all, especially in front of all those students," she murmured, shutting the door to her room behind them and falling into step with him toward the dining hall.

Sanosuke grinned.  "I was surprised myself.  Yahiko was just a brat who wanted to be strong when I left.   Now he's still a brat, but Jou-chan knew a master when she saw one."

Megumi glanced at him, noting the open respect in his tone, but said nothing.  Privately she thought the new hairstyle—not quite as short or as energetically spiky as his old one—well suited to the serious, clear-eyed expression his fine-boned face had come to have after his travels.  I suppose I'll have to find him a new nickname.

It struck her then that the change in his appearance was somehow only one of several changes she had come to sense in him, and the first she had actually been able to name.  She brooded over it throughout dinner, saying little even after the trays had been cleared, tea was served, and Sanosuke began distributing his booty.  Megumi had felt the difference far sooner than she had been able to describe it.  She had had no time to think on it, but now that her research was very nearly complete, she allowed herself the indulgence of a meditative couple of hours while Sano unlatched trunks and unwrapped bundles before anintimate,  eager audience.

Yahiko got a bokken of exotic hardwood, whorled in yellow and dark brown and so perfectly balanced despite its density and weight that he spent several minutes going through his kata in the middle of the hall.  For Tsubame a great roll of beautiful sky-blue silk was unfurled, and the young woman subsided in a corner after stammering her thanks, fondly imagining one magnificent kimono after another.  Outa, who stopped by after dinner, received a dagger with a strangly curved blade and a hilt of intricately worked silver.  Kenji was well pleased with a sword guard beautifully wrought with a dragon.  Sanosuke set aside rolls of silvery silk for Kaoru and maroon silk for Tae, along with other gifts for their friends in Kyoto; and finally he laid before Megumi a small wooden box.

 "It ain't pruning shears," he said gruffly, his tone softened by a sheepish smile.

She held her tongue, unlocked the box, and gasped.  Inside, snug in crushed velvet under a paper covered in writing and illustrations, were various odd objects:  several knobs of different sizes, strangely-shaped pieces of metal and wood, a small round mirror, and two shiny round lenses.

 "A microscope!" was all that Megumi said, but the delight in her voice and the smile that she turned briefly to Sano before staring back down at her treasure spoke far more eloquently of her gratitude.

 "Thought you'd need it."  Sanosuke was relieved that this gift, at least, was not being ridiculed or doubted.  "Latest from Germany."

 "I can't assemble it tonight, but I'll put it together as soon as I can."  And Megumi prudently laid aside the precious box, after one last happy look at its contents.  The hospital had its own microscope, of course, but to have one for her very own made words impossible for a while.

The fuss over the presents lasted well into the evening; everyone wanted to know where and how Sanosuke had come by his gifts, and each item had story leading into story.  Having already read his letters, Megumi hardly listened, but let the rhythm and rapidly shifting humor of his words hum pleasantly past her as she watched him speak and tried, in the most scientifically systematic manner, to capture her thoughts before they could flee, place them in their proper categories, and label them like some sort of insect genus.

But her surreptitious, silent surveillance didn't last long after the exertions of the day, and she fell asleep just as Sano was concluding a thrilling account of how he'd taken on a real live tiger.  When Megumi awoke with a start, Yahiko and the others were just leaving the dining hall to Sanosuke, who sat in the open doorway smoking his pipe.

 "Kitsune's gettin' old and sleepy," teased Sanosuke past his pipe.

 "I wish you'd woken me.  I need to see to Kaoru-chan before I go to bed."  Sighing, Megumi stood up, carefully easing the stiffness in her back and neck.

 "You've only been asleep about half an hour.  All that excitement this morning must've tired you out."

 "Maybe you're right, I am getting old."  Wistfully Megumi remembered the days of the Kenshingumi, when she could stay awake for days on end ministering to the needs of her friends whenever enemies old and new interrupted their quiet life.

Sanosuke was eyeing her with a smile that suggested he was recalling the same memories.  "Can't the little girl take over for one night?  You look like you could use the rest."

 "Iya, I'm fine.  I'll be wide awake in a moment."  Smoothing the wrinkles out of her kimono, Megumi headed out past Sanosuke, leaving him to smoke his pipe in silence and pick out constellations among the stars.

She had just arrived at Kaoru's room when Kenji emerged hastily from inside.  Megumi took one glance at the wide gray-blue eyes and hurried past him into the room.

 "Kaoru-chan?"  She knelt at the side of the bed where Kaoru was stirring feebly.  One thin hand lifted weakly from the blanket; Megumi quickly caught it, brushing back Kaoru's sweat-damp hair from her forehead.  Her eyes widened in surprise.

Kaoru's eyelids fluttered open, and eyes the color of the midnight sea came slowly into focus.  Megumi blinked away her gathering tears and beamed down at the younger woman, who smiled back faintly.

 "I..."  Her voice, so long unused, died in a rasp.  Kaoru, frowning, coughed and cleared her throat.  "I've been asleep so long, Megumi-san."

 "That's as it should be.  How are you feeling?"

 "I'm all right."  And Kaoru's smile was so peaceful Megumi was unsure whether to rejoice or grieve.  "The pain has subsided for now."

Megumi said nothing for several moments, merely frowned and pulled the blankets up more snugly around the younger woman, who watched her keenly.

 "There's something you want to talk about?"

Megumi sighed.  "You don't like sleeping," she said.  "Correct?"  At Kaoru's nod, she continued slowly, "There is a medicine that—that hasn't been tested yet.  But if the research holds true, there may be a way to fight the pain without sending you to sleep."

With the last word she finally raised her cinnamon eyes to meet Kaoru's.  A moment passed, and neither spoke.

 "The most likely disadvantage is that the medicine may not be as effective as the old one in numbing you to the pain," finished Megumi quietly.  There was little need to say more, and she saw in Kaoru's shadowed eyes that she knew it too.

 "Will it cost very much?"  Kaoru's tone was grave, her gaze steady.

Megumi shook her head.  "I can prepare everything myself, and I"—her voice faltered so briefly she found the lapse easy to ignore—"have access to inexpensive stores.  Yahiko will not be burdened.  Nor I," she added before Kaoru could respond, before she herself could think better of her decision.

Kaoru's feeble smile at that moment recalled her old customary cheer so vividly that Megumi had to look away, fiercely blinking back tears.  "Ja.  Arigatou, Megumi-san, itsu mo no you ni.  How soon will it be ready?"

 "Tomorrow morning, if you wish."

 "I might not wake again tomorrow," murmured Kaoru, so softly Megumi wondered if it had only been her own fearful thoughts whispering in her ears.  "Perhaps I should not take the old medicine tonight," she said more loudly.

Megumi frowned again.  "Demo, Kaoru-chan—"

 "I feel better than I have in weeks.  Maybe it was the long sleep."

 "Still, the pain may return—"

 "I don't think it will.  And if it does, I'll bear it."

Megumi found it difficult to argue with a patient whose smile was as stubborn as it was serene.  She sighed, returning a more rueful smile of her own.  "But if it does, Kaoru-chan, no more arguments.  I'll give you the old medicine.  Misao-chan will just have to—"  Gasping, Megumi caught herself.  Horrified, she snapped her mouth shut, but it was too late.

 "Misao-chan?  She'll visit?"  Kaoru's eyes glowed.

Megumi shook her head, cursing the weariness that had let down her guard.  "Hai, she'll be arriving tomorrow with Shinomori-san to spend the winter with us," she said in resignation.  "We received a letter from her the other day.  They do so want to see you."  One last time.

 "It will be just like old times, then, all of us here at the dojo.  I haven't seen her since the spring."  At that, Megumi glanced at Kaoru, but her face was as clear and sunny as her voice.  "The new medicine tomorrow, then, Megumi-sensei.  And none of the old tonight.  I promise I will send Kenji the minute anything becomes beyond me," she said more soothingly, softening the firm tones of the dojo shihandai.

Megumi sighed and nodded.  "All right then.  If you say so."

Kaoru folded the doctor's slender hand in both her own thin ones and squeezed in mute apology, and Megumi's mouth relaxed into a weary grin.  "Gomen ne, Kaoru-chan.  I should really be more understanding of a will as stubborn as my own."

Kaoru's eyes disappeared into another cheerful smile.  "Daijoubu, Megumi-sensei.  You understand so much already."

For a moment emotion choked Megumi, and she could only shake her head.  Then, latching thankfully onto another topic before she completely lost control, she said gently, "Misao-chan isn't our first guest for the winter, Kaoru-chan."

 "Sagara-san."

 "Kenji.  I thought you'd gone to stay with your mother."  Sanosuke suppressed the shudder that threatened to run down his spine at that.  Many things had changed his Jou-chan in the years he was gone, and motherhood was one he found rather difficult to accept —for the fresh-faced girl with the indigo hair ribbon who would stay forever in his mind's eye most unmaternally pulverizing Yahiko with her bokken.

 "She's finally awakened.  Megumi-sensei is with her now."

 "Eh?  Well that's good to hear.  Can we go in and see her?"

 "Not for a while yet, I think.  They were talking quite seriously when I left."

Kenji sat down some distance away from him, leaning against another post, a solemn, distant joy curving his mouth into a dimly moonlit smile.  For several moments both were silent.

 "Where did you learn to fight like that, Sagara-san?"

Sano smiled.  "Ain't really got a style, kid.  Picked it up here and there.  Most of it I risked my life to learn."

 "Fear sharpens any student, perhaps?"

 "Prob'ly."  And Sano sat back against the wall, grinning around his pipe at the memories that drifted through his mind.  His grin faltered at Kenji's next question.

 "Would you spar with me?"

 "'Course not.  Wouldn't be any point to it."

 "Onegai.  I would like to learn."

At a glance, Sanosuke took in the boy's set mouth, his clear eyes.  "Like another boy so long ago," he said slowly, "you wish to be strong?"

Kenji made no response, merely continued to meet his gaze.  And at last, with great reluctance and a hollow, chilling sadness, Sanosuke conceded what he had sensed within the boy from the moment they had met—a powerful, wild kenki, kept in check only very tenuously, never dormant but only simmering, ready to blaze up again the moment Kenji chose to reject control.  And Sano knew that a student of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu would match no less than deadly force with such fierce and untamed will.  It had happened before.

 "We grow up looking at the back of the man who goes before us," he murmured, savoring the feel of words long asleep in his memory.  "Some of us see heroism and are inspired.  But you have seen abandonment, and felt betrayed."

The calm, even, almost respectful tone Sanosuke used struck Kenji even his temper instinctively flared; and as Kenji hesitated, the door to Kaoru's room opened and Megumi stepped out.  Even in the dim yellow light from the braziers inside the room, Sanosuke could see gray circles beneath her downcast eyes, the normally straight shoulders slumped beneath the layers of silk.

 "How is she, sensei?" asked Kenji as Megumi approached, her pace uncharacteristically slow.

The smile she turned on them, however, was gentle.  "Your mother is fine.  She will have no treatment tonight, but you should take in to her some tea and food."

Kenji left immediately for the kitchen as Megumi sank wearily into a seat on the engawa.

 "You should go on to bed," said Sano gruffly.  "You've had enough excitement for one day."

 "It wasn't the ride that tired me out."  Megumi fidgeted with the sleeves of her kimono.  "Kaoru-chan... refused medicine tonight.  She says she wants to be awake tomorrow when Misao-chan arrives."

 "That's good, right?"  Sanosuke watched her solicitously.

Megumi shook her head.  "I warned her that the pain may well return.  But she said she would endure it, and would hear no more from me."

 "You ever known Jou-chan to change her mind once she's set it on something?"  Sano chuckled.

Megumi's answering grin was faint and short-lived.  "She gave me leave to give her a new treatment I've developed beginning tomorrow.  I told her it's never been tested yet, and though it will keep her from sleeping it may be less successful in killing the pain, but... she doesn't like to sleep through the days any more."

Sano paused, unsure as to how to phrase his response.  "And we all know... the worst that can happen."

Megumi nodded wordlessly.

 "Is she still awake?"

 "Yes.  She wants to speak with you."

Sanosuke grinned.  "Che, I was hoping I'd surprise her.  Oei, Kenji.  Quit skulking in the shadows like a shy little waitress and bring out that tea.  I'll take over with Jou-chan tonight."  As Kenji approached, the color high in his cheeks at being found but looking rebellious, Sano added sternly, "You need the rest, kid.  It'll do you more harm than good to keep missin' nights  like you have."

Kenji silently surrendered his tray to Sanosuke, who balanced it easily on one hand and then laid the other on the boy's shoulder.  "And as long as you can stay up tonight, think on the true meaning of strength.  It's not always what a young fighting idiot believes it is."

Sanosuke's voice was so low Megumi had to strain to catch the words.  But Kenji seemed to have had no difficulty hearing; eyes lowered, he nodded silently and, when Sano let go of him, turned and walked soundlessly off toward his room.

 "What was that all about?" asked Megumi curiously, then stifled a yawn.

Sano grinned.  "From one strong and hardheaded dolt to another.  I'm just repayin' my debts.  Now go to bed, kitsune, before I carry you."

At that, Megumi rose hastily to her feet, and insisting on his not keeping Kaoru up too late and informing her in case of any recurring pain or unusual behavior, padded away no longer bothering to suppress her yawns.  Sanosuke stared after her, nursing the last of his tobacco, until her tall, slender figure had vanished into her room down the corridor.

Then, having emptied his pipe into the bushes, he went away in the other direction armed with his tray of food and drink, hoping that change had not been so cruel to his fresh-faced Jou-chan as to taint her happy smile.

~ tsuzuku ~

A/N.  Another comparatively long chapter.  Mou, I'm a bit unhappy about the way this installment turned out... T.T  I needed a transition, and I thought there had to be a gift-giving part in here somewhere, and Sano's procrastinated enough... but I'm inclined to think that this "divided" chapter (the 1st half about something, the 2nd half about something (someone) else entirely) is not at all good writing... T.T  Gomen nasai!  Tips for improvement anxiously solicited!!

eriesalia-dono asked about Misao-chan and the others... well here they are!  (Or here they almost are...)  I really did intend to bring them in; it would certainly be OOC for Misao and the other Kenshingumi (Kyoto branch) to be absent at this very important stage in their lives.  I'm still not quite sure what I'll do with them though...

Sigh.  How can I possibly concentrate on school when it's just so much more fun to keep at this story?!? ^.^