hashi = Japanese chopsticks (slightly shorter and more rounded than Chinese ones)
Mune no Monogatari
by Mirune Keishiko
Thirteen: Day after Day
Genki! Genki! Genki!
Misao chanted the word inside her head as she vigorously stirred the miso soup, timing each studious refrain with a ladle's circuit of the pot. Megumi would probably not have approved of her being up and about so soon, and neither, she knew, would have Kenshin; but as both were at the moment themselves dead to the world, sleeping off the fatigue of the past several days, she had seized the chance to put her rapidly returning strength to good use. And make dinner.
Genki! Genki!
She drew a deep, heartening breath of the cheerfully bubbling soup; she was light-hearted as she had not felt in too long. Two and a half months? She grimaced. How on earth had she managed to survive that long with such gloom?
She felt her old, confident grin settle comfortably back into its long-accustomed place on her face as though happy to be home. Turning her attention then to the cucumber she needed to peel and grate for a salad, feeling an odd but familiar warmth spark inside her at the thought of the man who had always seemed to particularly like salad—as much as he ever seemed to "particularly like" anything—she knew one reason she was smiling again.
When she had begun to recover, he had all but ordered her to be her old happy-go-lucky self again, had morosely said something about "doctor's orders." Still feeling guilty about having disobeyed him before, she was now fully determined to be genki if it killed her.
Angling the pot to fill the bowls with soup, she nearly lost her grip on it as its weight suddenly lifted from her hands.
"Himura! You scared me!" she shouted at him, rapping him over the head with the soup-wet ladle. Still smiling cheerfully, of course.
Kenshin's eyes were full of soft purple reproach as he steadied the heavy pot for her. "You are supposed to be resting, Misao-dono."
"And you, Himura-no-baka, were supposed to be sleeping like a log beside your wife and kid." She stuck out her tongue at him and began dotting her salad with bright jewel-like chunks of mikan, ignoring Kenshin's slightly nervous glance. All right, so maybe she'd never heard of oranges in a vegetable salad, but it would at least be nutritious, wouldn't it? It would end up the same jumbled mess in their stomachs anyway. "I'm covered up fine, not shedding into the rice, if that's what you're worried about."
Mock-defensively she hitched her yukata even higher up her neck, even though it already enveloped her so thoroughly she thought she would melt in the sultry evening air. The rash-like inflammation characteristic of scarlet fever had been very mild for her, and already it was peeling briskly, aided by a salve of Megumi's making.
Kenshin chuckled, holding up his hands as if to ward off Misao's indignation. "Maa maa. Misao-dono happily smiling again is not something this unworthy one will ruin with an argument."
"You know, you're smarter than you look." And Misao beamed to prove her point.
She had barely had time to notice the sudden tension that hardened Kenshin's features when the door into the kitchen from the yard burst open, and a boyish voice shouted irritably—
"Oei, I thought you guys were sick! But with the weasel girl cookin', I guess you really will be sick if you weren't already—"
Yahiko's sentence was decisively interrupted by Misao's foot in his face.
"And stay out!!" she shrieked as he sailed over the fence.
"She's right, you know, in a way," frowned Kenshin, picking up the battered, red-faced twelve-year-old from where he had landed most painfully among thorny bushes. "You should be at the Akabeko where it's safe, Yahiko. You don't know if you've ever had the fever yet and it's always better to make sure."
"But my place is here at the dojo with everyone!" Yahiko winced as he picked a broken thorn out of his leg. "I don't want to be over there with all those girls," he mumbled, turning bright pink, and not from the physical abuse.
"Not even with Tsubame-chan?" needled Misao, busying herself over the rest of the meal: dried fish, pickled vegetables, and lightly seasoned mushrooms.
She feigned blithe ignorance of the disgruntled glance Yahiko cast her. "See, I missed out on all the action," he continued petulantly, as if she had said nothing at all. "Now Kenji's okay, and even the weasel girl's getting better." Nimbly he dodged the ladle that hurtled toward him. "I should've been here helping out, instead of hiding at the restaurant like a coward," he finished more seriously.
Kenshin was smiling at him gently, but Misao could not resist the opportunity to tease him some more. "Here, you can have some of my shedding then, Mister Coward," she said, flicking an imaginary scrap of desiccated skin his way and hooting with laughter as he scooted aside to duck.
"That's not cowardice! That's just plain gross!" And Yahiko scrunched up his face in disgust.
"So you sneaked out of the Akabeko, did you?" Kenshin's tone combined resignation and amusement as he began carefully stacking the trays of food.
Yahiko flushed with shame. "Yeah, but I didn't have a choice. Tae was watching me like a hawk. I had to sweet-talk Tsubame into letting me escape, but it wasn't easy."
"At this point, if the fever doesn't kill you, Megumi-san will," predicted Misao solemnly, placing some of the stacked trays in the frowning boy's arms. "I guess it's too late now, but she won't like that you've showed up here all of a sudden."
As they headed into the corridor, Misao stepping lively in front glowing as she contemplated Aoshi's possible reaction to her epicurean innovations, Kenshin brought up the rear with the last of the trays. Smoothly he drew up alongside Yahiko, who could barely see above the tower of trays he was carrying.
"You're right, Yahiko," he observed, "there is a difference between caution and cowardice." He fixed a serious gaze on the boy. "You are exposing yourself needlessly. You cannot be faulted for not knowing, but Megumi-dono has in fact fallen ill after tending to all of us these last few days. She'll be fine," he added quickly, seeing Yahiko's eyes widen. "But for now, her primary concern is herself."
Yahiko grinned. "Great then. You'll need an extra pair of hands to help around the house."
As Kenshin's already somber gaze grew even darker, he hastened to add, more quietly, with an earnest glance toward the older man, "I'm sorry for making you worry. And if I got the disease, then I'd be an even bigger burden, wouldn't I? But just the same..."
He set his mouth firmly, his chin jutted out with a half-conscious determination. "It's not right that I should run away or hide when you guys are in danger. And I thought, at the time, that I'd rather be here in case anything happened to anyone." If Kenshin noticed the moment's quaver in his voice, he didn't let it show. "I can't just come back after everything's over and simply find out that there are two or three new graves for me to visit."
Kenshin glanced at him then, gave a strange, solemn little smile. And Yahiko could not deny himself the pleasure of the approval in the older man's eyes.
"Oi, oi! What's all this pouty-faced talk about graves?" Both seasoned warriors sweatdropped under Misao's ferocious glare. "You two, take those trays to Kaoru-san! I'll take these to Megumi-san and Aoshi-sama myself," she finished with a syrupy smile.
But as she turned away toward a particular room on the opposite side of the house from the master's, her smile turned softer, more genuine. "Damned if that shrimp's head isn't a little screwy," she muttered to herself, "but his heart sure is in the right place."
Way over on the other side of the house, Yahiko very nearly upset his trays as he gave a huge sneeze.
As she came to in the soft lamplit hush of evening, Megumi found herself speculating, even as she called his name, how exactly she had known he was there. Fragmented memories, perhaps, of his arms around her body, of his voice that was always so cold and self-assured, now shot through with an unfamiliar anxiety—or had those simply been dreams as she had faded in and out of reality? Certainly he made neither movement nor sound to give away his presence in that corner of the room beyond her sight, where the shadows pooled deepest. But as she drifted slowly back into consciousness, she suddenly knew, with an unassailable certainty she could attach to nothing else—such as the time or even what day it was—that he was waiting patiently, somewhere very close by, for her to awaken.
"Aoshi-san."
Too bone-weary to open her eyes just yet, she felt him kneel by her bed. "Megumi-san. You feel better?"
"I suppose so." She stared up dazedly to find him stooping over her, his face inches from hers. Damn gorgeous. "How long have I been asleep?"
"On and off, more than a day."
"What!" His hands closed firmly around her arms to support her as she sat up with a jolt. "Ken-san—Kaoru-chan—"
"Is recovering well." He met her wild gaze calmly. "Himura has been following your instructions to the letter regarding the teas and the diet. His son is also doing fine. Misao's recovery has been the fastest among them all."
"That's a relief." Closing her eyes with a sigh, Megumi gently but firmly eased out of Aoshi's grip and lay back down. "I had a fever?"
"A mild one, which broke early this afternoon. You had not been eating nearly enough, and hardly got any sleep."
To his openly reproving tone she raised a defiant eyebrow in response. "Neither have you—attending to Misao-chan."
His gaze remained fixed on her for a moment longer, before he averted it; Megumi felt annoyance at herself mingle with the smug satisfaction of having discomfited him.
"Since she began her convalescence, she has no longer needed such surveillance."
A markedly superfluous statement. Megumi felt curiosity—and something else she was less willing to name—blossom hot inside her. "Is that why you are here?" Why was she asking? What did she want to know?
Aoshi's eyes lingered on hers before he rose to his feet and walked over to the closed door. "There is no peace to be had in this unsettled house but here."
As Megumi eyed him sharply, he slid open the door.
Misao stood outside, bearing three stacked trays of food, looking deeply embarrassed. "Gomen nasai! You weren't in your room, Aoshi-sama..."
Her blue eyes slid then to Megumi, and the older woman felt the worry and doubt in Misao's clouded gaze clench around her heart. Suddenly disturbed, Megumi looked away, pretended to busy herself with sitting up in bed.
"Thank you for bringing it here." At Aoshi's toneless response, Misao looked back at him uncertainly, making no move to unburden herself of the food. Aoshi stepped close to her, then, calmly peering first under the lid of one bowl to make sure it contained the medicinal soup, took the other two trays for himself. "I am sorry, Misao. The need to make dinner slipped my mind completely. It won't happen again."
"You should rest, Misao-chan." Megumi's voice was mild and her gaze held only kindness as it fell on Misao, but beneath the sheets where no one could see, her hands curled into fists with the effort of concealing her disquiet.
The girl's tone was faintly pleading as she spoke to Aoshi. "I thought I'd take over for now, with Megumi-san. You've been taking care of her all this time. You should rest too."
Megumi quickly turned her face away to hide a small, wry smile.
"I'll be fine, Misao. You, however, are still recovering. Now I will bring you to join Kaoru-san and the others for the tea Megumi-san prescribed; and for the next several days, beginning now, you are confined entirely to your bed. Himura and I relieve you of household affairs until things return to normal."
Very few people, Megumi suspected, would dare to disobey direct orders from such an imposing man, spoken in such a masterful tone. She hid her smile behind her hand as Aoshi shot a suspicious glance her way.
Moving with deliberate slowness, he laid the two trays on the floor by Megumi's bed, then left the room with Misao meekly stepping aside to let him pass. The clink of lacquerware and ceramic faded gradually with their light footsteps.
He returned just as Megumi was uncovering her bowl of soup, savoring the rich aroma of miso. "If you're going to help around the house, I might just have more patients on my hands," she said dryly, watching him walk swiftly across the room and sit down by her bed. He was carrying a folded yukata with a slightly faded deep green pattern. "Unless you're the one who taught Misao how to cook."
"She makes a good student. And I have a diverse array of skills." He held out the yukata toward her.
She stared at him in blank surprise. "Sewing too?"
"I've never tried." A smile tugged at his stoically set mouth. Megumi wondered fearfully if the fever had gone to her head, if she were hallucinating. "A doctor so well trained should know you could catch a cold if you remain in those sweaty clothes."
Still eyeing his oddly tilted mouth with amazement, she clutched at the proffered yukata. As she touched the thin, loosely woven fabric she thought instinctively of how delightful it would feel against her skin, instead of the one she had been wearing through her illness until now, hanging heavy, hot, and worn from her body.
The smile had quite gone from his lips as he gazed at her. She met his stare boldly, without thinking. "I can't just change, I need to bathe first."
"After dinner then." Pointedly his eyes flickered down at the tray of food in her lap, then back up to her face.
"Are you offering to wash my back?" Megumi cocked an eyebrow and a suggestive smile at him, delighting in the frivolous, flirtatious tone she had not used in some time.
He leaned forward, picked up her hashi, and she inwardly cursed herself for not quite yet getting over the fascinating, fluid grace of his every movement. Midnight eyes and cinnamon met; a delicate morsel of tofu was poised between the chopsticks he raised to her mouth.
"As I said," he murmured, letting the ends of the hashi rest feather-light on her full, slyly curved lips, "I have a diverse array of skills."
She let out a little, musical laugh of sheer amusement, and leaned backward, setting aside the soft cotton yukata. His hand was warm against her fingertips as she gently forced the hashi back down to her bowl. "Aoshi-san, I think you have been hanging around me a little too long. You are starting to pick up my less desirable traits."
He raised his eyebrows blandly. "Such as that urge to doctor everyone in sight? Not at all."
He lifted the chopsticks to her mouth again, and this time her brow furrowed slightly as she stared back at him. "Stubborn idiot. I can feed myself perfectly well, thank you."
"You are weakened, you would take too long. Then your bath would be delayed, and with it your change of clean clothing; and in the meantime, you might catch a cold."
Megumi narrowed her eyes at the logic served her in that chill, measured tone. "I understand; I am not a child, Aoshi-san."
"You most definitely are not, Megumi-san."
At the cool, quiet laughter in his voice, she felt her cheeks heat. The hashi prodded patiently at her mouth; finally she opened it to accept the silky texture of tofu, feeling a hot, pleasurable thrill glow deep in her gut at the nearness of his face, the intent blue of his eyes on her. Vaguely embarrassed and irritated by her own reactions, she averted her gaze sullenly.
"I can see that I'm doing this incorrectly. I can only apologize that it is not Himura who is doing this to you, as you undoubtedly wish."
Playfulness and gravity, innocence and deliberate subtlety—his words brought her up short, and she quickly frowned up at him. "Ken-san is different. Ken-san is..."
...safe. She bit off the word before it could escape her, could endanger her.
But perhaps this keenly watching man with the crystal clear eyes already knew what she had almost said.
~ tsuzuku ~
A/N. I know FFnet is cracking down on overlong Author's Notes, but please... that habit takes a while to break, y'know? ^.^
1) I'm very, very sorry to everyone for the huge lag in updating. I started my summer practicum just last Wednesday and since then I've been way too exhausted by the end of the day to create just about anything useful. @.@ Can't help wishing I could just stay in school forever... but that's fairly normal, I hear. ^.^
2) Just need to apologize also for the, er, crappy chapter titles. I always think of chapter and story titles last, and rarely do I come up with something less than pathetic. Though I do try. @.@
3) Thank you so much for the reviews! They revive my soul after it's deadened at work. (No, seriously; I don't like my work this summer. _) eriesalia-sama: Believe me, I was tempted too. But then Kenshin would probably go off on another ten-year guilt binge, and sheer angsty madness would only result... so everyone gets well and happy. ^.^; The fight... is in the works. Hope with me here. ^.^ nuke-grrl: ooh, please go ahead and nitpick. I'm terribly afraid of straying off the right path with this fic, so I'd appreciate all C&C. ^.^ Thank you, Rissi-Sama! You are too nice. Glad I made you smile. ^.~ conspirator: Heh, sorry for all that gloom and doom. Here's a bit lighter chapter, I hope it makes things a bit more bearable. ChiisaiLammy: thank you! "Quiet interactions" require a lot of effort, so I'm happy it isn't wasted or misguided. PackLeaderT: Again, my thanks. I like emotions. Maybe not wisely but too well, actually. ^.^; mij: ugh, Misao and Kenshin-brand guilt do not seem to mix very well, but I'm still experimenting. The "half-half" thing was more of focus: Misao, then Megumi. It seems to be the same thing in this current installment too. Eep... Kichi-chan: Nice to hear from you again, and thankies! Cherie Dee: Well, not too sick. Yes, Aoshi and Misao definitely have to have a little talk. ^.^; And as for Megumi... hm, I'm not done with her yet. jojobilu: Oops, sorry about the long wait then. But any and all reviews are welcomed, so thanks for yours! Akisakura: You read my mind... I suddenly thought, Uh-oh, gotta bring Yahiko-chan back! I hope he pleases you in this chapter. ^.^ Shimizu-Hitomi-sama: Oooh... don't worry, the triangle is on its way. Tasya: My thoughts exactly! ^.~ cheryl: Gomen, gomen! Here it is at last! Share and enjoy!