Standard disclaimers apply.

Author's Note:

            Please read through chapters one and two again if you've read it way before. I made revisions.

Stop pretending

Reveal the person behind the mask

Yearning to know where your heart lies.

 --- g3ozLizh

THE GREATEST THING

By g3ozLizh

Chapter Two

Pain

Misao Shinomori woke from her deep slumber and as she blinked her eyes open, slowly traveling it from side to side, the first thing she saw was a tall man's back. She uttered the foremost thought that came to her, heart going aflutter --- optimistic.

            "Aoshi?"

            The tall man twisted his body to glance at her, a bit surprised as if she had interrupted him in his thoughts, and shook his head. He then regarded her condition. "Feeling better, Misao?"

            "Sano," came the disappointed acknowledgement. 'Where is Aoshi? Is he all right? Oh, Kami-sama, please let him be unhurt ---' her jumbled hazy thoughts buzzed like angry bees, giving her a headache.

            "Hey, want me to get your medicine?" He made a motion to stand up but Misao called out to him.

            "Sano?" She asked quite reluctantly, slowly as if dreading the answer. "Where's Aoshi?"

            Sano stiffened halfway then sat back against the tatami floor. Slowly, he turned around to look into her expectant eyes. She looked so hopeful and very fragile at the moment, so unlike her usual self that he couldn't bear to tell her the truth just yet. Maybe when she gets better…

            'Will she?' A nagging thought escaped into his reasoning. 'Will she really get over all of these? It's not so much about the physical pain…'

            Misao was now growing frantic when Sano didn't answer right away. Why was he looking at her like that? Could it be…?

            "Sano, answer me! Is he…?" She couldn't bear to finish her question but it was good that Sano butted in right away.

            "No, Aoshi is fine. But…" He began walking towards her and crouched just beside the futon. He didn't dare mention that he picked --- No! --- that he fought Aoshi; he silently scolded Megumi for instilling that damn idea that he picked a fight with the Iceman.  

            Misao never took her eyes off Sano for as if when she does, he'd escape and leave her wondering about Aoshi. She knew he was keeping something from her. A little pain could not dull her sharp senses. She was an okashira after all. That is, before she'd given up her position to pursue her feelings to the man that is now her husband.

            "Listen to yourself! That is not how an okashira behaves!" Okina admonished.

            "Then I'd quit being the okashira if it means I couldn't be with Aoshi-sama!" she exclaimed, fire burning in her eyes in fury.

            "But…?" she prompted eagerly.

            "But he has to go away…"

            "Go away? What do you mean go away?" Misao felt her lungs closing up, heart thudding more prominently that she was near to passing out --- but not until Sano gave her an answer.

            The tall gangster was about to say that he is not in the position to answer that question but considering that no one else was since Aoshi himself wasn't there, he explained it to his childhood friend as caringly as possible… and that was by telling the truth straight out. "Aoshi is leaving the Oniwabanshuu, he said you won't be needing to watch his back for him… and that he ---"

            He was about to say that he left you to me before he caught himself; good timing Misao cut him off mid-sentence.

            "After all this time… he still thinks our marriage as part of some contract of convenience… something he is obligated to do. Granted that he was forced to marry me because he made me pregnant… still… I thought he could learn to love me… through time…What if Kanryu's men get to him? He needs me! As I need him…" As she was saying these she appeared to be going in a trance: her eyes glazed over and all her strength seemed to seep away.

            Her best friend found the need to hold her then. He carefully sat beside her and pulled her into his embrace. She didn't put her arms around him for support, rather, her arms hung at her sides and she only rested her head against his chest. The embrace seemed awkward: Misao, for her part, was just glad she could rely onto someone that however uncomfortable her position was, she didn't adjust nor complain; Sano, for his part, can't seem to completely relax, Aoshi's words echoed in his head.

            Sano looked up the opposite way Misao was looking down. He appeared to be deep in thought as he offered his childhood friend support. "Misao, what you need is to take care of you. Aoshi… he can fend for himself." Scenes from his fight with Aoshi flashed through his mind; his right rib still hurts.

            Misao's trembling voice sounded muffled with speaking against his chest but the intensity of her words wasn't decreased one bit. "Sano, you don't understand. If he is hurt, I hurt… if he is sad, I'm also sad…"

            The gangster wanted to shake Misao by the shoulders and tell her that that isn't how it goes. That when one is hurt, the other doesn't have to feel the hurt or there wouldn't be any way out if it at all; the pain would not go away. Instead, the other should feel anything besides the hurt for what would the other give to soothe the pain away…? Yes, one must be a fort not of pain but of hope, of love… Yet Sano didn't voice all that.

            He himself was feeling the pain.

            "I love him, Sano, whoever and whatever he is."

            And just as Sano had contemplated, the pain did not go away.

=====

The onna-sensei, all this while, had been reasoning with herself that now knowing where she and Sanosuke stood in the relationship scale, there was no need for her to invest  more time pondering over the "us" in the Rooster-head and her. Yet somehow knowing the truth was far more painful than what she had expected from the line, truth hurts. How about the other saying: The truth will set you free? In her case, the only thing set free was the anguish she was now experiencing. She doubted it if she could move forward from this; rejection was dragging her down. She stared at the sky through the open window in front of her and noted that the clouds were heavy and dark looking.

            'No… not so much the rejection but the realization that Sano doesn't feel the same way.' She paused in her making Misao's meal. 'I thought I've prepared myself if ever this happens…' she tightened her grip on the sink's edge, willing the ache out through her application of force, 'but I guess one could never truly ready oneself for this kind of thing.'

            After Sano had ran off to find Misao, he came back with her in his arms. Megumi now understood that it was the truth: literally and figuratively. Indeed, he did not return to her.

            She shook her head as if also shaking out the heaviness that settled in her heart. She opened her eyes only when she was confident that she had kept all the tears in. How she wished happier days would replace the past hellish weeks. She finished Misao's meal of hot miso soup and some smoked fish with rice and placed them on a tray along with some green tea; a vial of medicine had already been placed.

            Now, everything is set… but how was she to enter the patient's room without seeing Sano which surely will break her composure as she will be reminded again that he was not hers for the taking?

            'Megumi, remember, you're ---'

            "A doctor first and woman last." She bottled all her feelings and only let those doctor instincts take over. More often than not, she wears her doctor's mask along with her smock so it wasn't that hard to hide behind them when the situation calls for it; the mask serves to conceal the fragile woman inside and gives an expression of complete control and self-reliance; the smock, to downplay any sagging of shoulders when she sometimes just wants to give in to her exhaustion, to offer warmth on cold lonely nights when she needs to be awake in attending to a patient.

            She continued to free her mind from emotions which were not a requisite in executing her work as a doctor.

            A man's deep voice echoed in her mind, 'Let it all go, Megumi-san.'

            For a number of seconds, she was wheeled back in time when she was held captive…

            'I will come to you. Just leave this ---'

            She snapped her eyes open, willing another part of herself which she had kept hidden up to now to be immersed in her thoughts of work until they would merely be memories she wouldn't want to look back to.

            She willed herself to go into doctor mode and be professional all day and only when midnight strikes would she take the façade off and submit to the pain, now has been increased, that never ever truly went away.

            Pushing the half-opened shoji door with her back to let herself in didn't wake up the man leaning against the wall, asleep, with his heartbroken… friend in his arms.

            The sight caught her completely off guard and for seconds --- which could have turned to minutes, she didn't know --- she stood there, frozen. Her mind was blank of anything, found herself asking the question what am I was doing here and entertaining the thought of catching the first train that would take me far, far away from thesight that bombarded all her sense of reasoning. She could leave them, there are other doctors who would attend to Misao, she doesn't have to save everyone…

            But knowing that you could not blame love for choosing who it desires to bless with its power; she continued to do her part, as a doctor and as a friend.

            As she kneeled down to put the tray beside the futon and hesitantly pushed the blanket to cover the two, a piece of red cloth slid towards her knees.

            A white cloth that was distinctly familiar… and nostalgic.

            The onna-sensei studied it for a moment and she was wheeled in time once again, starting from where she interrupted it moments before.

            'Just leave this cloth and I'll find you.'

            'I don't understand… Why are you doing this?'

            Sanosuke had opened an eye when he sensed that someone else was inside the room beside him and Misao and was puzzled to see Megumi staring at a piece of red cloth, folding and unfolding it, studying the edges, fingering the fabric's texture. His forehead furrowed when she covered her mouth as if stifling a cry.

            It was the same red cloth, the one she used to wrap her slender dagger. The dagger itself was with her but only now did she know that the red cloth was with Aoshi all along.

            Why was it with him? Had he intentionally kept it and… did he intentionally leave it behind for her to find?

            As if anyone would know what was going on in her head, she stole a glance at Sano's and Misao's direction and was met with dark brown eyes, just as stunned as hers was.

            Outside, the rain started to fall.

======

The former okashira of the Oniwabanshuu saw the first drops of rain hit the ground he was staring at.  It wetted his nose and while time ticked by with him standing still, the rain gradually increased its frequency and soon, Aoshi Shinomori found himself soaked to the bone.

            But it was the least of his worries. He could catch hypothermia for all he cared; the rain did not wash away any of the pain.

            Shikijo, Hyottoko, Beshimi and Hannya all died protecting him, having had helped him escape from Takeda Kanryu. Now, it seemed to be Misao's turn… No, he will not allow it; his sense of honor would not. He will confront Kanryu; he will avenge his comrades' deaths and…? And Misao will forget about him and move on; she deserves better.

            'Like that Sagara?'

            What Sagara accused him, of him not being worthy and doing things too late, they might as well have fallen on deaf ears considering that they didn't break through to him. Maybe because he acknowledged them already from the beginning?

            He turned around in one swift motion, tipped his face upward to stare at the darkening sky, leveled his gaze and looked on ahead, took a step forward, then never turned back.

To be continued…

Author's Notes Ramblings:

            Aoshi, Misao, Sano and Megumi are in; Kenshin, Kaoru, Tae, Okina, Omasu and Okon will be included in the coming chapters. This is an AU fic with a sort twist from the RK series. I guess I can say that this is parallel to the RK series only with manipulated plots and characters… and this inclines itself more to the romantic side.

            Suggestions and comments are much welcome.

            Yes, I correct myself; this is a love SQUARE. Thanks to Kay-san1(ShinomoriMiyu (Yes, so far there hasn't been any love square tackling this four. Perhaps this fic would encourage others to be created?) and Mirune Keishiko (Thank you for the encouragement and I do miss your Sano & Megumi works! I haven't read your Aoshi and Megumi fic for fear that you would convince me that them two belong together. Ehehehe…) for pointing that out. Aoshi loved Megumi, Megumi loves Sano, Sano loves Misao?, Misao loves Aoshi. I will soon explain how these four people got tangled in this webby love square, will even feature Aoshi and Megumi's past together and how it is that he ended up with Misao (besides getting her pregnant). Sano's presence complicated things more and Kenshin and Kaoru's relationship would be admired by the two couples, wishing that their own love life could be as blooming as K&K's.

            To onescape, yes, thank you for the opinion. I do mix up the present with the past tense so if you email me and point them all out, I'd be eternally grateful! v And I will try to be more detailed with the setting and all. Can anyone supply me with a suitable date I could base from? This happens in the same period as the RK series started. Even Jin-e will make an appearance so I guess that would give you guys a clue how Kenshin's and Kaoru's paths will cross in this fic. (Am I giving too much away?)

            This fic is not close to ending with Aoshi-Misao and Sanosuke-Megumi pairings. I might change my mind along the course of the story, who knows? :p

            Perhaps the next chapter would be lighter in angst… I wonder if that's possible…?