The Sacred Night, Chapter 30
"Good morning, Megumi-dono," I greeted and bowed when I arrived home to find her waiting in the living room.
"Good morning, Ken-san," she giggled just a bit. It was morning in the technical sense, but realistically it was still night. She sat on the couch and waited for me to go to her, which I did, but I kept a small distance.
"Megumi-dono," I began, "I need to talk to you about something, that I do,"
"All right,"
"Kaoru-dono was not happy with our… behavior earlier tonight,"
"Our behavior? You mean how I 'flirted' with you, I take it. She should know I'm not serious. You're married and I know that,"
"That's what I told her, but she still wanted me to talk to you about it. She is not comfortable with it, that she isn't,"
"She must be terribly jealous, Ken-san. How do you stand it?"
"Actually, I do not mind at all, that I don't. I'm the same way sometimes," I admitted, blushing only a tiny bit. I really didn't mind her possessiveness. I thought it was cute, and it was oddly comforting to think that she not only cared enough to keep me around, but thought other women might feel a similar way. All in all, I liked it.
"Fine. I suppose if it works for the two of you, it's all right, but I don't want her thinking she can tell me what to do. I'm not going to change for that tomboy,"
"Kaoru-dono is very feminine, that she is,"
"I'm sorry,"
"It's all right. That's all I wanted to talk about,"
"All right. I'm ready," she leaned toward me and I commenced feeding.
I wasn't standing outside this night. I had been here all day and night; had woken up here. She had not been the first thing to greet my eyes, since I had been in the room alone. I had been happy to take up residence here with her, though she seemed pretty indifferent about it herself. Her neighbors had begun to wonder who the mysterious stranger she was associating with by night was, and she was uncomfortable with the gossip. She was so stately and proud that it was an insult to her to be the thing old women used to spice up their lives, and since I hated to see her annoyed or unhappy, I suggested this. We had been married only a few days, and already I was beginning to feel at home. I was not sure she relished the idea as much as I did, but she had calmly accepted, saying what I thought best would do.
She had long since adjusted her sleep cycle to keep up with my arrival, and I had to take small portions of her blood throughout the night instead of one large portion, and even that didn't add up to what I would usually have taken, but I was holding up. The worst time was the first of the night, when I had to pull away after what felt like only a drop. I was getting used to it, though.
I hadn't been awake long before she came to me. I had a flower of hope that she really did like this, and me, a little, nourished by the fact that I didn't have to seek her out in the mornings- she came to me, though admittedly without a smile. She had never smiled for me, but she seemed content. Not happy, necessarily, but content. Maybe I could make her happy someday.
"Konbanwa, Vampire-san," she greeted me politely, but still with that cold distance I wished were not there.
"Konbanwa," I replied. I wished she would say my name, but she had not yet. I had told it to her, and I had learned hers, but was afraid I would offend her if I used it. I repeated it over and over in my mind, though, hoping that someday my lips could say it aloud to her and I could hear mine in return.
She knelt and did not pull away when I leaned toward her. This was the sweetest part of the night. I fed, but did not dull the pain. I had not since the first time she had asked me not to do so, but I wished she would let me. She kept a careful distance in all things, and I wondered again whether it was because she simply did not enjoy my presence for its own sake or if it was my kind from which she wanted to distance herself. For brief moments, I could forget what I was and what I had done since I became so, but the ever-present distance reminded me. I began to think I would never want to feed on another human again, and that this existence was so agonizingly beautiful that I would never want to leave it in favor of my old ways.
I had never understood what a connection feeding could forge between individuals, though in our case it seemed rather one-sided. I had never felt this connection to my victims, because they were in no condition to have any connections when I got through with them, but this… was different than anything I had felt as a human or a vampire. I never wanted to kill again.
"You loved her, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did," I answered. I had almost said 'do' instead of 'did.'
"And she didn't love you back?"
"Not at first, no. I believe she eventually did, though," I paused thoughtfully, considering that, and after a pause, Megumi spoke again.
"Was she pretty?"
"Gorgeous," I answered with no hesitation. It was true.
"What did she look like?"
"She had black hair that she always kept pulled back, and she was tall… she had brown eyes and pale, white skin… she was beautiful,"
Megumi seemed satisfied with that description and just thought a moment. She pulled her hair back experimentally, noticing, I supposed, that she had the other traits I had described. I could see the two tiny wounds my teeth had created, but they were not bleeding, since her body did not now contain enough blood to be able to push much out. She was pretty then, but didn't quite stack up to the memory I had in my head.
I had adored both women I had called my wives, and I did not care to know which I loved more. They were completely different, but the same in every way that mattered. They were both courageous and understood life, and neither had shied away when she found out who I was. Both had accepted every flaw gracefully and opened up to me so I could accept theirs. I hoped Sano could bring himself to do the same with Megumi.
"Did Sano apologize for earlier, Megumi-dono?" I asked suddenly.
"I haven't seen him since then," she answered with a puzzled look.
"When he left his house after we talked, I assumed he was coming here to speak to you, I did,"
"He didn't. It doesn't matter- I was stupid to tell the idiot anything. Stupid to tell anyone anything, except you,"
"That's not true, Megumi-dono. Sano didn't realize you were forced into working for Takeda-san, but when I told him that, it seemed as if he changed his mind. He has a... personal prejudice against opium in general, since a friend of his died using it," before I was finished speaking, she had covered her mouth with her hand.
"When was this?" She gasped.
"I... don't really know, Megumi-dono, I didn't know Sano yet when it happened,"
"How long have you known him?"
"Only fifty years,"
"Oh," she looked down. I wanted to tell her I was sure she had not personally made the opium that had killed my friend's friend, but I had no such assurance.
"Megumi-dono, he understands now. He will apologize and you two will be just fine, that you will,"
"I wish you could say that for certain,"
"I am certain. Sano will not hold a grudge when he understands that it was not your fault. He may take awhile, but he will calm down. Have I ever told you that Sano hated me when we first met?"
"What ever for?"
"Before the two of us ever met, and before Sano became a vampire, we were both involved in the war in the 1860's. I had not been a vampire long, and still cared a certain amount for human affairs, which changed as I got older during that period. Most of my victims were shogunate supporters and leaders, since I was an ardent supporter of the Imperialists when I was alive even though my shishou would not allow me to fight for them. That is part of the reason I was so well-known then, though most humans did not really believe I was a vampire. The arrangement seemed to make a lot of sense: I had to feed anyway, and the Imperialists needed my help if they were to succeed.
"I fought on their side for quite some time early in the war, but had only a passing knowledge of another branch of our side, the Sekihoutai. Sano was involved in this branch, though he was only a child even by human standards then. I'm sure you understand the view most people had of them after the war ended," I noted the understanding expression on her face, "but that, you already know, turned out to be untrue, as I did not find out until I met Sano. However, even as a child, he understood that we had been the ones to create that false impression to save our own skins from the backlash that was sure to come when the claims we had made through them were found to be out of our reach,"
"You say 'we,' but you don't mean you personally, since you didn't know yet that they were telling the truth,"
"Correct. I was not part of the news-spreading efforts, since I had already gone to wander at that time, but I had never really had that sort of job anyway. However, I did believe what the Imperialist leaders said, that I did,"
"Of course,"
"Sano understood all of this; however I myself only knew what my superiors had told me. He understandably held a grudge against us, since his idol, Sagara Sozou, and many of his friends were killed when they were pronounced a false army,"
"His father?"
"Captain Sagara was no relation to Sano, that he wasn't. Sano didn't have a family name, and he chose to take Sagara's after the war ended. As I was saying, Sano had a grudge against all of us, and we had a fight when we first met. However, afterward, he saw that I had not really known the whole story about the Sekihoutai and we were able to become very good friends, that we were. If he could accept my friendship in spite of that, I am sure he will accept you as well once he comes to terms with what really happened," I explained. She closed her eyes and nodded a few times.
"Hai. I never knew all of that about Sanosuke. I'll try to talk to him again,"
"I'm sure he will come to you when he's ready. However, you may want to give him his space until then, because even though he knows the truth now, it will probably take a period of time for him to convince himself fully,"
She nodded again. "Thank you for this talk, Ken-san," she said, standing up. It was getting close to dawn, and we would all be going to sleep soon, humans included.
"You are welcome, that you are, Megumi-dono. Good day," I finished.
"Good day," she giggled just a little at our vampiric perversion of a nightly greeting and we went our separate ways. I went to join Kaoru in our bed, and she went to lie awake and contemplate Sanosuke.
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yay, SPRING BREAK!!!! I'll be able to do lots of much-needed writing and hopefully get ahead again…
Cattibrie393: glad you liked the humor. Sano's reaction was kind of planned for me, since he didn't react well in the manga, either. He is going to have some introspective moments coming up.
Lady Battousai: yes, it is because she's bound that she can stand to lose that much blood without being hurt. Glad you like the social problems- they are much more my style than fighting, which I hate.
Kenshin's My Man: well, though I have heard kenshin has a womanish voice in the oav's, he has a nice, deep voice in the CN series. And really, anybody could get good at gambling in a hundred fifty years… but really, he doesn't have to be very good, since as I said, vamps don't need much. Aoshi just BARELY laughed, and yes, I would imagine he does do that from time to time- how could he not, since he lives with misao? Yes, I do try to be accurate as far as the culture differences. Many people portray the characters a lot like Americans in kimono, and that is just not how it would be. They are Shinto, Buddhist, both, or nothing, most likely, and since I know more about Buddhism, I usually go with that. Sano and megumi will have tons of interaction here soon. Hope saitou doesn't get too cranky on you; that could be dangerous business… I love him, though.
ILoveLegolas: ah. My sister rather likes him as well, but I have to say I don't see it. He was cute as legolas, yes, but that was all about the hair. I LOVE when men have long hair, especially if it's straight. Glad you understand what meg's going through here- anybody would be attracted to him. Misao's immune because she loves Aoshi, but other than that, any woman would love to have him, I think. Kenji will be along eventually, but I can't tell you how. Vamps can't bear children, so it's something of a surprise. I'm hoping just the opposite for my spring break. I want to write lots and lots and lots.
Cowgirl4Ever: well, I hate to disappoint you, but yahiko and tsubame may not appear much more. I don't really have anything for them to do.
Yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: I plan on it!
Forbidden Dream: I think 'yaoi' is the same whether singular or plural. I agree with you, I don't generally read them, but I have read parts of a couple. One I abandoned the moment I found out it was yaoi, the other I stuck with a bit longer. It was ken/sano, but kenshin was horribly OOC. He was actually a big, whiny baby in that fic, which could not be less like him. I have really never seen a same-sex pairing where the people were IC. Yeah, that song is wonderful, but it is hard to figure out who sang it first because it's been done so many times. The all-girl choir at my school did it last year.
Invader Zimo: yes, well, yahiko hasn't a major role yet, so he may or may not appear again. Kaoru is not happy, but if they do make up, it will take awhile, since they had an interesting rivalry in the manga. Sano will not be so difficult for megumi to win over- he's best friends with kenshin, so he can't be very judgmental. Kenji will be here eventually, but not until the very end, sorry. It's kind of a surprise how he comes in, so I'm not saying more.