That afternoon the two of them woke up to the smell of lunch made by Katsu, who was generous enough not to disturb the couple. Sano and Yumi dressed in a peaceful silence and walked out the door to the porch where Katsu set out the food.

"Hey, hope you guys are hungry. I made a feast," said Katsu.

"Starving," replied Sano as he started loading his plate.

Yumi smiled in thanks to Katsu and started eating as the two grown men gorged. But during this gorge fest Katsu gave Sano a questioning look and Sano answered with a devilish smile and Katsu started to choke on his food a bit from chuckling. Yumi guessed what they were giggling about and smiled without shame herself.

Once lunch was done Katsu gave Sano some medical herbs and a loan and they were off again waving goodbye to the Katsu shrinking in the distance.

"You brought me to your friends to pick up herbs and a loan?" asked Yumi in a calm disbelief.

"Yep," replied Sano plainly.

Yumi sighed.

"Well it was better since we didn't have to fix our own bed, right?" asked Sano jokingly.

Yumi gave him a friendly push and the journey back to Sano's apartment seemed shorter thanks to the laughs they shared.

When they got there Yumi plopped down her futon exhausted but laughing from the joke Sano told her.

"Sano?" she asked when the laughter stopped.

"Yeah?" he said as he was unpacking the herb and hiding way the loan of money.

"Do you think we're serious?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, how long do you think we could last together?"

"We just started living together, why would you ask a question like that?" he said turning to her.

Yumi stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Because I don't ever want it to end."

"Good," Sano whispered as he slipped in a kiss.

Epilogue:

And from that day on Sano and Yumi were rarely seen without each other in town, even at where Sano gambled. Yumi actually developed a serious gambling problem and drove the couple into a deep debt. Sano kept taking loans from Katsu until he was denied anymore money. Yumi along with gambling got into cocaine and her health slowly declined as her debts kept skyrocketing. Sano started working as a laborer, working on the construction of a new railway and managed to pay off his own debts and some of Yumi's. Unfortunately this wasn't enough for Yumi and constantly verbally abused Sano, accusing him of not taking care of her. All the money Yumi managed to win went to her cocaine addiction and Sano was receiving advice from Kenshin and the others to get out of the relationship but refused saying he knew who Yumi really was and wouldn't leave her.

Until one day at a bar Yumi had just lost a large sum of money and was unable to pay up so she made her way back to Sano's apartment to try out some newer drugs she picked up. But when Yumi opened the door she found a ninja assassin waiting for her. When she screamed Sano came running for her and started to fight the assassin. Only until Sano got the ninja's sword in his forehead did he fail to get up and defend Yumi. But the assassin wasn't without wounds himself. Sano, before he died, used a deadly pressure point combination and as the assassin walked toward Yumi, unknowing he would die soon, told her he was sent from one of the men Yumi owed money to and right there and then collapsed onto the ground at her feet.

Yumi sobbed at Sano's lifeless body and took a knife from the assassin and plunged it into her heart. Later it was found out that Yumi was actually suffering from the effects of cocaine at that time and it was possible that she didn't commit suicide because Sano was dead, possibly because she was just irrational.

The Kenshin-gumi held a funeral for Sano and Yumi, cremated them and spread their ashes along the trail where they walked to Katsu's.

Perhaps they were right in putting love into books...

Perhaps it could not live anywhere else.

-William Faulkner