Disclaimer: Watsuki-sensei and Co. own the Kenshin-gumi, but I like playing with them so much I can't help myself...
Author's Notes: I want to thank Chisaiilammy, Trupana, Eriesalia, Larissa Hyuga, Shimizu Hitomi, Mij, and Constance L. for their great reviews! Thanks for welcoming me so warmly into the circle of Aoshi & Megumi 'shippers!
White Rose, Black Rose
by Amberle-chan
Chapter 4Megumi awoke the following Monday morning excited and nervous. While she had worked in clinics in both Aizu and Tokyo and occasionally attended patients in hospitals, she had never worked on a hospital staff, much less teach anyone else. She had hardly slept the night before, sudden doubts shifting through her mind. What if she wasn't up to the task despite everyone's faith in her?
Okina and the others noticed her nervousness when she joined them for breakfast. Okina tried to distract her with his usual outrageous flirtatious manner, but she was so anxious, she wasn't even capable of rebuffing him properly. She hastily ate her breakfast, made her excuses, and headed outside to walk around the gardens by herself for a few minutes before she went to the hospital. Aoshi found her standing next to one of the rose bushes, her medicine box clutched tightly to her chest, lost in thought.
"Don't overstep your bounds," he said softly as he stepped up behind her, bringing her out of her reverie.
"Aoshi-san?" Megumi asked as she turned to him with puzzled eyes.
"Teach your students all that you know," Aoshi continued, "but if there is something you do not know, admit it to them, and then be willing to learn it together with them."
Megumi glanced up at his face, but he was not looking at her; his eyes were distant, gazing into memory. It was then that she realized that Aoshi was imparting some of his own experience to her. As the very young Okashira of the Oniwabanshuu and Guard Captain of Edo Castle, he had had to lead as well as learn the very formidable skills he now possessed. At some point in time, he had to admit his lack of knowledge to someone who respected him enough to teach him but who was still willing to acknowledge him as "Okashira."
Megumi smiled and found herself a little less daunted by what lay ahead. This was advice she could follow. "Thank you, Aoshi-san," she said seriously. "You're a very wise man."
Two dark eyebrows rose in surprise at the compliment, but she was already gone.
It was another week before Aoshi mentioned the house again. At first Megumi thought he would take her to see it right away, but as the days went on, it was not spoken of again, and Megumi began to wonder why. Not that she was not enjoying her time at the Aoiya; when she returned each night from the hospital, the company was extremely enjoyable, and even the usually taciturn Aoshi proved himself to be capable of a good conversation or two. It was not until the end of the week, after several conversations with Aoshi, that she realized that he actually missed Misao, who had gone off with Soujiro after the yui-no to meet his remaining family members. She was surprised to discover that Aoshi, who had always seemed so aloof, also wanted companionship once in awhile, and in Misao's absence, it was hers he sought out.
Yet, as the week ended, she knew it was time for her to leave and be on her own once more.
Megumi found Aoshi sitting on the porch, his back against the wall, his eyes closed. She thought he was meditating and turned to go, when he spoke. "You have a question, Megumi-san?"
"I'm sorry, Aoshi-san," Megumi said. "I did not mean to disturb your meditation."
He opened his eyes and regarded her calmly. "You are not disturbing me. Is there something wrong?"
"Wrong? No. I was just wondering about that house you mentioned. I have been enjoying myself here, but I really think I should settle down in my own home now."
He stood up, his blue eyes regarding her calmly. "I'm sorry I did not mention it sooner. It was just being repaired and refurbished. We can go see it tomorrow, if you like."
Thus, Megumi found herself walking through a small empty house the next morning while Aoshi waited for her outside. It only had four rooms: a large- sized common room, a small bedroom and kitchen, and one other room that was lined with shelves, enough shelves that Megumi could keep all of her books and bottles and jars of herbs and ointments in one place. She was delighted to find a small plot of land in the back where she could grow a garden. After giving each room a thorough inspection, she returned to the small porch where Aoshi was waiting.
"It's a perfect little house, Aoshi-san," she said, smiling. "It's exactly what I need. Will you please let your business associate know that I would like to rent it from him?"
"Hai, Megumi-san," Aoshi replied.
"I'll write to the Himuras today to let them know they can send my things. Perhaps I'll send to Aizu for some of other things as well. I think I'll be very comfortable here."
Within another week, Megumi moved into the little house and began to settle in as one of the newest resident of Kyoto.
Her days were spent at the hospital, taking care of patients and teaching her students. At first there was a great deal of resistance among the hospital staff that a woman doctor had been brought in to be among them, but there was even more resistance to her teaching others. Her first few weeks there were very difficult, but she was determined to succeed. She knew of at least several doctors who had gone to Hideo Inoue to demand her immediate dismissal, but each time the hospital administrator would vehemently deny the request and advise the doctor to get used to the idea. As the days and weeks went on, and the other doctors were able to observe her skills and compassion, she gained a grudging respect from most of them.
The students she was assigned to teach were an entirely different matter. At first all of the young male residents found the idea of a woman teaching them a very novel idea, and treated her as such, with a great deal of snickering behind her back. It wasn't until she had thoroughly and cleverly humiliated several of them about their lack of knowledge that their attitude began to change. Soon every morning she found herself trailed around the hospital by students who were enthusiastic to learn from her. She was also aware that some of them followed her so eagerly because she was a beautiful woman, but she used that to her advantage as well. There were one or two who were a little too eager to be around her even her after classes were over, but she easily rebuffed them and moved on.
She would often return to the small house late into the evening, exhausted but satisfied with her work. When time and energy allowed, she worked on the garden she had begun to grow or read from the medical textbooks she had recently bought. She tried to visit her friends at the Aoiya at least once per week, and even when she was not there, she found herself being accompanied by them on her various outings. She found herself even regarding Aoshi Shinomori, a man whom she had once wholeheartedly despised, as a friend. Kyoto had become home.
It was three months after she had moved into her small house, that she was stopped by the receptionist at the main entrance of the hospital just as she arrived for the day. The small woman did not say anything to her, but just bowed as she handed Megumi a long, thin box.
Megumi did not open the box until she reached her office. However, when she finally did open it, she let out a gasp. Inside the box was a perfectly formed rose. A black rose. She lifted its delicate petals to her face and inhaled. It smelled wonderful. She then ran her hands over the petals, wondering if the rose had been dyed. No ink stained her fingers as she pulled them away. She stared at the rose in wonder. She had never seen a black rose before, and couldn't help thinking about how difficult it would have been to grow such a rose. She looked inside the box, but there was no note.
Benjiro Inoue entered her office just as she was placing the rose in a vase on her desk. "That's a very unusual color for a rose, Megumi-san," he commented as he handed her some papers.
She looked at him shyly. "You...didn't...perhaps?" she stammered. Benjiro had become one of her closest friends and staunchest supporters since she had begun to work at the hospital, and on occasion she felt that he was attracted to her. She had, as she had done with so many other perspective suitors, gently rebuffed his occasional flirtations.
He shook his head. "No, I didn't," he answered, "and even if I did, Megumi- san, you can be sure that I would never send you such an ugly colored rose. Red roses are definitely better for you." He grinned at her.
"Benjiro-san," Megumi said, a light warning in her voice.
"Yes, I know," he said as he turned to leave. "Back to work."
When she arrived at work three days later, there was a second black rose sitting in the vase on her desk next to the first rose, which was wilting. She stopped in surprise as she opened the door when she saw the rose. She had locked her office door the night before and had now just unlocked it. How had anyone gotten in to leave a second rose? And who was leaving her roses in the first place? And why black roses? She loved roses, she had made no secret of that fact, but black was such an unusual color. Once again, there was no note.
It wasn't until the third rose appeared six days later that Megumi began to become concerned that the strange black roses were something more than gifts from a secret admirer.
For once, she left the hospital just before sunset and arrived at her house just as twilight was beginning to descend. She made her way home quickly, wanting to change her kimono and smock before heading over to the Aoiya for her weekly visit. Aoshi had begun teaching her how to play chess several weeks before, and now she was looking forward to a quiet evening in his company, because after a day of several emergencies, loud, bothersome patients, and thick-headed students, she found herself in need of a calm presence, and if anyone could be calm, it was Aoshi Shinomori.
She noticed the dagger buried in her door first. The black hilt reflected back the last of the sunlight that was flooding down her street, and so she spotted it from several feet away. It was not until she stood before her doorway that she saw that the dagger had been plunged through the heart of another black rose, pinning it to her door. Her eyes wide in shock, she reached up with trembling fingers and pulled the dagger out of the door. The broken rose fell into her other hand. Megumi now knew something was wrong, that someone was perhaps threatening her. Aoshi and the Aoiya could wait. She needed to speak to the police first.
Megumi did not even bother to change or even enter her house. She placed the dagger and the rose into her bag and made her way to the police department. Once there, she asked to speak to the officer in charge and was shown into his office, a man named Cho, a man she had only met once, when she had come to Kyoto to take care of Kenshin.
"I'm not sure you remember me. I'm Megumi Takani. We've only met once, about five years ago," she introduced herself as she sat down. "I'm friends with Kenshin Himura and Aoshi Shinomori."
"Ah, yes," he said. "How can I help you, Takani-san?"
She took out the dagger and the rose. "I've received a couple of roses in the last few weeks, but there was never any note indicating who they were from," she explained. "Then, this evening, I found another. It was pinned to the door of my house with that dagger."
Cho took the rose and dagger from her and placed them on his desk in front of him. "Were the other roses black, too?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm. Have you had any fights with lovers? No? Then I wouldn't worry it about too much, Takani-san. It's probably just a secret admirer with an odd sense of humor who happens to be color-blind."
"But..."
"Even if I found this strange, Takani-san, and I don't really, there would be nothing I could do about it. If I'm not worried, why should you be?" He handed her back the dagger and the rose and escorted her to the door.
Three days later, the fourth black rose appeared. She found it in lying on her desk in her office, folded in a note written on expensive paper. None of the other roses had had a note with them. Each pen stroke of the two lines of the note was straight and precise, but she did not recognize the handwriting. She stood there, her back to the open door, hand pressed against her mouth in horror as she read the note, the rose falling to the floor.
"Megumi-san?"
Megumi shrieked and dropped the note. She whirled to find Aoshi standing just inside her doorway. She was shaking violently.
"I apologize," Aoshi said as bent down to retrieve the note from the floor. "I did not mean to startle you." He then spotted the fallen rose and also picked it up. He stood up and his eyes widened when he noticed the color of the rose and then the pale, trembling woman standing before him. His eyes fell to the note and his eyes widened even further as he read it:
One more black rose for a dead, beautiful woman.
When the petals wither and die on the twelfth, so shall you.
"Megumi-san, when did you get this note?" Aoshi asked, his voice low with barely controlled fury.
She did not reply but wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to stop her shivering. She stared at Aoshi, unseeing, wondering why this was happening to her. Why would anyone threaten her like this? She hadn't been in Kyoto long enough to get to know anyone besides her friends at the Aoiya. A sudden thought flared through her mind. Did one of the doctors who didn't like the fact that she was working here send her the note? She had met opposition to the fact that she was a woman doctor before, but no one had ever threatened her with death. No, it wasn't possible. Doctors swore an oath to do no harm. She didn't believe any doctor was capable of this. Still, she was frightened.
Aoshi realized how violently she was shaking. He put one arm around her shoulders and led her over to the chair behind her desk. She let him press her down into the seat, arms still folded tightly about herself. Aoshi stooped down beside her and placed one hand on her wrist. Her head hung low, her hair enfolding her face in shadows.
"Megumi-san, when did you get this note?" he asked again, his voice a whisper.
She took a deep breath before she answered. "I...found it on the desk just before you arrived."
"It says 'one more black rose'," Aoshi said. "Have you received other roses?" When she did not answer immediately, he tilted her chin up with one finger. "Megumi, have you gotten other roses like this one?"
She stared into his cool blue eyes, nodded once, and let her head fall again. "The first one was left for me at the receptionist's desk almost two weeks ago, but there was no note," she replied, her voice a trembling whisper. "There was another one last week. I found it here in my office, even though I had locked the door. At first I thought it was just some secret admirer who liked black roses, but then I found a third pinned to the door of my house with this." She reached into the desk drawer and pulled out the small, black dagger that had been buried in her door and handed it to him. "That was three days ago. Today was the first time there's ever been a note with any of them."
Aoshi stood up to examine the small dagger in the better light provided by her office window. It was unremarkable, something that anyone could practically buy anywhere. He then looked at the note once more, running his fingers across the textured paper.
Megumi watched him through lowered eyelashes as he first examined the dagger and then the paper. She attempted to put on a brave face and explain it away. "I wouldn't worry it about too much, Aoshi," she said. "It's probably just a stupid prank by one of my students."
He turned and looked down at her. Her head was hanging down low once more, her facial features hidden by her long dark hair. Her hands were wrapped together tightly in her lap as she unconciouslessly rocked back and forth. He knew instantly that she was lying, trying to pretend that everything was fine. However, Aoshi knew fear; he had seen it too many times on the faces of others. He could see that although Megumi was unwilling to admit it, she was terrified.
"This note is not a joke, nor is the dagger," Aoshi said, his voice grim. She did not answer but continued to stare down at her clasped hands. "Megumi-san, look at me," he ordered gently. She raised her head, her eyes wide and frightened. "I won't let anything happen to you." His voice was calm as he spoke, but yet there was a hint of fierceness behind it.
She stared into his icy blue eyes and found reassurance there. She took a deep breath to steady herself and unclasped her fingers. He waited silently while she gathered her composure once more.
"I think I should let Cho look at these," Aoshi said, referring to the three items grasped in his hands.
Megumi took another deep breath. Her voice was steadier when she spoke. "I've already been to Cho," she explained. "I went to see him after I found the third rose. He said he had better things to do than to listen to hysterical women who were receiving odd-colored roses."
"I will speak to Cho," Aoshi said, as he strode over to the open door. The tone of his voice implied that the police officer would not have any choice but to listen to him. "When do you leave today?"
"I have several more patients I have to see this afternoon," she answered. "I won't be done until a little before sunset."
"I will be back later to escort you home."
"Aoshi-san...," she began to protest.
"I will be back later to escort you home, Megumi-san," he repeated flatly, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Whoever this is knows you love roses and also knows where you live. I have no doubt that they have followed there. You will wait here until I return."
Megumi nodded silently in agreement, her expression once again frightened as he turned and left. If Aoshi Shinomori was that concerned for her safety, she had good reason to be afraid.