Disclaimer : Rurouni Kenshin is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shonen Jump, Viz, and Sony Productions.

Thanks to OniTokage for reading over some parts of this fic and correcting it. I really appreciated it. And also thanks to Mz. Amber Eyez for pointing out the mistake with Hiko's last name. =x

Possession

Donna8157

Chapter 10 : Sano's Past : Money, Women, and Booze

It was around 3:00 am when Kaoru's fever finally died down. Her cheeks had returned to their normal hue and she was sleeping soundly. Sano smiled with relief as he took off the cold compress from her forehead for the final time that night. He brushed back the few strands of hair from her face and looked at the girl's complexion steadily. As he watched her, his heart gradually began to beat faster.

He didn't know what he felt when he looked at her. But he just knew that it hurt him whenever he saw her in pain. Whenever he saw Kenshin treating her poorly. His pupils trembled a little bit as he listened to the rhythm of her breathing and looked at her face. She was so beautiful. He felt drawn to her and slowly leaned over. Her lips that were curled up in a small pout seemed ever so inviting. His senses grew drunk at the close proximity to her body as he inhaled the faint scent of jasmine.

His eyes closed of their own accord as he started to lower his mouth near hers. He kissed her lightly on her lips. The tender gesture was so brief and subtle that the girl most likely would not be able to feel it, but that ephemeral moment had cast forever an imprint in Sanosuke's heart.

"What are you doing here?" Kenshin said in a calm voice as he stood there by the door with his eyes glued to his friend's form.

Sano paled instantly as he sat back straight in his chair. "Uh . . Jou-chan . . she had a fever."

Kenshin who continued to stare at Sanosuke repeated what he said in wonder. "A . .fever?"

Sano's heart was thumping so loudly in his chest that he was sure that it would give him away. He looked down on the floor for a moment as he shrugged off the feeling. "Y-yea. It's a little down now. She'll be fine," he said while he looked over to the side of the room, trying his best to avoid Kenshin's eyes.

"I'll . . I'll just go back to my room now." The man hesitatingly got up from his seat and walked out the door. Kenshin remained standing there by Kaoru's door even after Sanosuke had left. Without moving his eyes off of the girl's sleeping form, he ambled over to the bed. He stared at her for awhile as he focused his eyes on her lips. Kenshin's brows knitted for a moment and then he staggered back to his room. Once he went in, he collapsed on the bed and fell asleep.

Sanosuke returned to his room across the hall and let go of the breath that he didn't know that he had been holding since he saw Kenshin. He plopped down on the floor next to the wall as he thought about what just happened.

What did . . what did I just do?, he screamed inside of his head as he shook his head forcefully. Could Kenshin have seen? What am I doing? Jou-chan . . jou-chan is Kenshin's . . .

He tried to console himself as he got up and walked over to the bed, but found that he couldn't and only laid awake the entire night with his eyes wandering the ceiling above him.

Small rays of sunlight seeped into Kaoru's room and she rubbed her eyes sleepily as she got up. Her head and body felt a little heavy, but she felt much better than she did the previous day. She looked at the clock on the small desk at the side of her bed and the red fluorescent numbers told her that it was 5:15 am.

Kaoru groggily got up and stretched as she went to bathroom to wash up and change. When she finished, she went to Kenshin's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer from the other side so she opened the door and stepped in quietly. She saw that Kenshin was sprawled out on the bed with his clothes from yesterday still on. She went over and gently placed a blanket over him.

At that moment, the young man's eyes opened up and looked at the girl. She stared back at him in shock and unconsciously took a step backwards and dropped the blanket that she had held in her hand.

"I was just . . placing the blanket . ." She bent down to pick up the light blue blanket from the floor.

"Are you okay now?" Kenshin asked Kaoru in a dry voice.

"Excuse me?" She looked at him awkwardly. The girl had no idea what he was referring to.

Kenshin groggily sat up in bed and looked to the side, making sure to avoid her eyes. "You had a fever yesterday and Sano took care of you all last night."

"Oh .. yes, I'm okay now, sir." She was surprised to hear that the man seemed to be worried about her.

He flinched almost unnoticeably when she had called him sir this time. For some reason, the way that she always added the word sir started to bother him. He had always heard it, but he felt like it was some sort of rejection. Kenshin nodded his head as he got out of bed.

"Go wake Sano up," the man said as he started walking towards the bathroom. When he was inside, he listened for the click of the door to signal that Kaoru had left the room and then started washing up.

Sanosuke was lying down on the bed still staring up at the ceiling. His thoughts had not let him get any rest that night. As he lay on his back, images and voices of the past seemed to intrude into his conscious.

When Sano had been only five, his mother had committed suicide. This threw both the boy and the father into deep depression. Sano's dad later came out of it and was able to continue on living and make money, however for the boy himself he could never understand it. Why would his mother kill herself? Didn't he love the both of them? If she did, then why would she end her own life?

He felt betrayed.

It was around that time when he was seven that he had met Kenshin. Through mutual pain and sorrow, they became the best of friends. Even though neither one of them told each other the story, they had an understanding of one another.

As Sanosuke grew older, he felt that he could drown out his memories of the hurt and pain by dousing his system with alcohol.

But it never worked.

He would always consistently feel worse right after the booze wore off and things only went on a downward spiral from then on. He would go to the clubs, get drunk, and be with different women almost to the point that it was on a daily basis. Later on, Sanosuke's father sent him off to different countries thinking that maybe the boy could learn his lesson.

But he never did.

That was until he met her.

Sayo.

His eyes glazed over as he remembered that fateful day. He was in Germany at the time and had been arrested for heavy gambling and being drunk and starting a fight in the streets. But since he was just a minor, the judge had let him off and only sentenced him to two hundred hours of community service at the soup kitchen.

Back then she was known to him as Amakusa Magdaria. She would come to the soup kitchen everyday with her brother and they would preach to the homeless and financially strained people about the kingdom of heaven and the greatness of God. Sano would always scoff inwardly whenever they talked about it. If God was so great, then why would He leave him without a mother when he very much needed one? Why was there poverty? Why did people suffer?

He shook his head at the absurd thought. Back then, he believed in only one thing. Himself. And he felt that he didn't need anyone else. Being with someone and trusting someone would only bring pain upon oneself when he or she betrayed you. He knew. He had felt it firsthand.

On one of the days that Sano was working at the soup kitchen, Magdaria walked over to him with a gentle and motherly smile on her face. The man had looked away not wanting to engage in conversation with someone who was just going to preach to him about Christianity. But he was surprised. The girl didn't. Instead she just helped him with the chores in the kitchen. It became a routine almost. Every time both her and her brother had finished giving a short sermon, Magdaria would come over and help Sano.

In the beginning they never really talked while serving the food to the poor, but Sano felt a strange sort of comfort when he was with her. But later as time passed, they began to talk about things. They conversed lightly about traveling, religion, education, and other things. He had found out that her parents had been killed when they were sent as missionaries, having been caught in the cross fires of war. The two siblings were young at the time, Shougo being only ten while the girl had just turned six. Even though something so tragic had happened, her brother and herself had persevered and lived on. It was then that he told her about his own past. His mother.

Little by little, his memories of the past didn't seem so dark anymore. Instead of the image of his mom lying there lifeless in the bathtub, he had images of his mother smiling and laughing when she was with his father and him. He had learned to remember that side of his mom and later understood that no matter what, his mother had still loved him. It was not much later when he had talked to her that her disease had started to get worse. Sanosuke was shocked at first to learn that she had such tuberculosis for the girl had always had a smile on her face and always seemed to have enough energy to help others in need.

Before she died from the disease, she told him something.

"You should keep the memories that you cherish from the past, but live in the present. Don't let your past guide your future, Sanosuke."

It was also during that time that he had found out her real name. Muto Sayo.

She had changed him through her kindness and he would never forget her. Never.

Sanosuke sighed as turned on his side. He then found his thoughts wandering to Kaoru. Why did he kiss her? What had made him do that? Because she belonged to . .

Knock Knock

Sanosuke instantly came out of his thoughts as he shot up in the bed. He rushed over to the door and right before he opened it, Kaoru had stepped in. He stopped in his tracks as he looked at her. Memories of the last night flashed by in his mind and his heartbeat quickened. He quickly looked back down on the ground as he tried to avoid her eyes.

"Uh .. Jou-chan .. what are you doing here so early for?" he stuttered. She looked at him strangely at how he was acting before responding.

"I thought you weren't awake yet, sir."

"I'm a pretty diligent guy . . even though I may not look it." He had a gleeful smile on his face as he looked back up.

"I heard you took care of me last night . ." she started as she twined her fingers around in front of her.

Sanosuke widened his eyes as he felt his breath catch in his throat. Did Kenshin see me then? Did he tell her what I did?

Hearing that the man wasn't going to respond she looked at him with worry in her eyes. "Are you okay, sir?"

"I . . haha . . sorry. I just fazed out for awhile maybe because it's too early in the morning for me. Did . . did Kenshin tell you about that?"

"Yes, just awhile ago."

"Really?" Sano replied as he scratched his hair. He looked at the girl intently. "Did he say anything else besides that?"

"Excuse me? Ah .. no .. he didn't." Kaoru furrowed her brows. She had no idea what had gotten into him. He just seemed so .. high strung.

"All right. Thanks for coming to wake me up, jou-chan," Sano said gratefully.

Kaoru nodded. "It's okay. Thank you, sir, for taking care of me last night. I'll be going then."

Once Kaoru had left, Sano let out a large sigh of relief. Then he headed towards the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Kaoru went across the hall and walked inside Kenshin's room again. At the moment, the boy was in the middle of getting dressed. Seeing that, she walked towards him and started to help him with his tie. Kenshin stopped what he was doing when he noticed that the girl had come over to him. He looked at her, almost mesmerized. He saw how her brows seemed to knit while she concentrated on the task at hand and the way her fingers intricately tied the knot in his tie. His lavender eyes then looked back at her face. His eyes stopped and lingered at her rose-tinted lips. A hazy feeling overcame his senses and his heart started to hammer against his chest wildly. He suddenly pushed her away in shock when he realized that his face was slowly going closer to hers. Kaoru looked up a bit surprised by the sudden maneuver and let go of his tie.

"I'll do it . . you can go downstairs." He looked down at his tie and started to fix it.

The young woman thought that his actions were strange but went out of the room anyway without saying anything. When she had closed the door, Kenshin plopped down on the bed and looked at himself in the full-size mirror across from him. He raised his right hand as he gripped his forehead and shook his head.

No .. it's got to be the alcohol.

When Kenshin walked down to the dining room he saw Sanosuke, Kaoru, and his two parents sitting at the dining table. Kaoru noticed the red-haired man and got up out of her chair so that she could pull a chair out for him. Kenshin nodded his regard as he sat down. He still felt a bit awkward from that one moment earlier that morning.

"So Sano, what are you going to do now that you're back in Tokyo?" Hiko asked as they re-started the conversation they were having before Kenshin came downstairs.

Sanosuke looked up from his food. "Well, I'm planning on transferring to Three Willows soon."

"Really? Well, why don't you live here with my baka-deshi?"

When Mrs. Seijuro heard her husband's suggestion, she instantly shot him a dirty look. Kenshin noticed this and frowned.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm looking for an apartment," he said. Mrs. Seijuro's face relaxed and returned to its normal look as she started eating again.

"Apartment? Why? It would be more comfortable if you live here. You can keep my baka-deshi company. He doesn't have any other friends anyway," Hiko said with a smirk as he shot Kenshin a playful look. Kenshin didn't react and just ate the food in front of him.

Sanosuke chuckled. "Haha. I'll think about it sir."

"What about it baka-deshi?" Hiko asked as he looked over at the red-head and completely ignored the frightening scowl on his wife's face.

"He can do whatever he wants," Kenshin said nonchalantly as he picked at the food with his fork.

Mrs. Seijuro changed the topic seeing that her husband was trying to persuade the other man to stay. She looked over at her son and asked, "Kenshin? How's that girl, Kamiya? Is she useful?" Kenshin didn't bother looking up as he continued looking down at the plate of food while the Kaoru had flinched.

"So much money went into her . .what's going to happen if she doesn't listen to him? It wasn't just a small amount of money. Honestly, what were you thinking dear?," the mother said as she looked over at the father with a fretful look. But Hiko didn't bother to reply.

Seeing that the man wasn't about to answer she glared at Kaoru and frowned. "And Kamiya, don't think about sitting here with that kind of face." Kaoru's face was covered with a few bandages so that she could hide the bruises and cuts that Kenshin had given her yesterday. The young woman slunk down deeper in her chair when she felt the mother's keen eyes upon her.

Slam!

Kenshin had slammed his fist down onto the table as he stood up. Mrs. Seijuro jumped in her seat frightened by the sudden noise. Kaoru and Sanosuke looked up shocked. And Hiko just continued to read the newspaper.

"Oh my! You're done?" the mother asked.

"Yes," he said in a calm, low voice as he put down his fork and walked out of the room.

"Excuse me." Kaoru apologized as she bowed down towards Mr. and Mrs. Seijuro. Seeing that Kenshin had already left, the woman quickly followed him.

Sanosuke watched as the two left and felt his mind numb. He couldn't believe the words that came out of Mrs. Seijuro's mouth. He clenched his fists as he controlled his anger and looked at them. "If you'll excuse me also, I should be getting ready for the day."

Kaoru was in the living room when she saw that Sanosuke had started going up the stairs. Feeling the girl's eyes on him, the man turned around and gave her a small grin. "I'm going to rest at home today. I'm a little tired. So go on ahead, jou-chan."

Her sapphire blue eyes saddened as she heard his words. "I'm sorry, sir. Because you took care of me last night . . you didn't get much sleep." Her head lowered when she saw how tired he looked.

"N-no. It doesn't have anything to do with you," Sano protested. "I've just got some stuff that I need to do."

At that moment, Kenshin's voice burst into the room.

"Hurry up and come out!!" he demanded. The spiky-haired man and young woman were shocked by his angry tone and looked over at him.

"I told you that I hated anything slow!! Sano's not going so just leave him alone!" With those words, Kenshin roughly opened the front door and stepped out. Kaoru bowed her head towards Sanosuke and rushed out. The other man just stood there and watched her until she left and sighed as he weakly trudged up the stairs.

"You have some nerve. How dare you make me wait," he said threateningly as he narrowed his eyes at the girl who had just come out of the house.

"I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again." She bowed her head to show her apologies.

For some reason, seeing her reaction had made him even angrier and a feeling of rage started to surge in his system. But he turned around and walked towards the car without another word. Kaoru followed him and they went inside.

Once they were on their way to school, Kenshin took out a cigarette from his pocket to calm his unsteady nerves. Soon, cigarette smoke started to saturate the air in the automobile.

Cough

The cough that Kaoru had been trying to hold came out and she quickly covered her mouth. Kenshin looked over at the girl and saw what she was doing. He put out the cigarette in the ash tray and rolled down the window. The cool fresh morning air blew in and the smoke slowly started to disperse. As Kaoru's coughing started becoming fewer and farther in between, she found her eyes looking at the red-haired man sitting next to her.

Did he do that because of me?, she wondered.

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- To be continued

Author's Notes :

Thanks for reading and please leave a review at the end to tell me what you think.

A note on pairings:

As much as I like Soujiro/Kaoru, I'm sorry to say that this fic will not have that particular pairing. In fact, Soujiro and Kaoru's relationship in this story is purely platonic.

A note about Kaoru and Kenshin:

The dimensions of Kenshin and Kaoru's characters will start to blossom further in the next couple of chapters.

Amakusa Shougo and Amakusa Magdaria:

These two characters who are brother and sister are portrayed in the Christian Arc of Rurouni Kenshin series. Their real names are Muto Shougo and Muto Sayo.

Listening to Hinata Rhapsody No.1, Opus 38

Special thanks to star0704, saotome, jacky, HitokiriSky, Azulene, Ryoga, nobody, super, Mz. Amber Eye, sc gurl, Oni Tokage, Piper, cyjj, Tenshi-no-Hana-chan, Coodle, Himura-chan, kaoru gal, Shannon, stranger, kimi.the.water.spirit, rkfan246, cutiechanXD3, kirie-kun, Sugar-Crazy-Fox, InuLimbo, Chibi Kiki, anonymous, Reignashii, S3R3nity, kik-ting, Aya45, ;), canitan-queen, Kaoru-chan6, Spike-Faye, Ochanoko, Lendra-chan, rain angst, kenshin's-angel, Baby Kaoru-sama, De Lazy Lime, star0704, onnie, Honeyz-Rinoa, and Erica for reviewing!