An unhappy Sano watched as Ayame and Suzume raced around him, trying to look at everything at once. He smiled when he heard them laugh; so much like his own daughter's... With a sinking feeling, he remembered Megumi, and his precious daughter. Kenshin had told him that he had to remain a "women" until the sunset to win the bet, and that wasn't anytime soon! A tug on his hand brought him back to reality, with both of the girls staring up at him, with pleading looks on their faces. Suzume tugged on his hand again, and he bent down to listen to her request.
"Uncle Sano… Can we go see Aunt Megumi? Please?" begged the two, wanting to see the new baby and visiting Aunt Megumi was always fun… Sanosuke bit his lip, and then nodded. As he was lead by them, he smirked, then thought 'Wonder what the fox will say about me when I get there…' As they turned onto the lonely road that lead to Megumi and the crew, he suddenly felt Ayame being torn from his grip, and both of them screaming. He came out of his thoughts to find a thug holding Ayame, and Suzume cowering terrified against him.
His rage evoked, he shouted hoarsely to Suzume, "Run for Aunt Megumi's house! Now! Move it kids!" and swung at the man holding a struggling Ayame. Megumi, who had heard the commotion, stepped out, and was holding Cho when her eyes widened at the scene. "AUNT MEGUMI!" screamed Suzume, and ran as fast as her little legs would carry her to the safety of her favorite aunt. Megumi ran forward, and scooped up Suzume, who promptly clung to her for dear life. She dashed back inside, then put Cho in her cradle, and told Suzume to hide, all the while searching for something she could use to help the women outside, and Ayame.
Grabbing Karou's bokken (that she had left there quite a while ago) she dashed outside again, swinging the bokken furiously. Unskilled and untrained as she was she used her knowledge of weak points on the human body and tried to aim for those. Sanosuke was putting up a pretty good fight, considering that the man had a dagger, and he was unarmed, but when he saw Megumi run outside, new strength kicked in, and in a flurry of blows he had snatched Ayame and was running towards Megumi with her, bleeding in dozens of places. He called out hoarsely "Megumi! Get back inside!" and handed her Ayame as he ran past, snatching her bokken in the process. Now that he had something to fight with, he had a better chance of winning…if it wasn't for that damned kimono he wore. Megumi, horrified, clutched the girl closer to her, then scurried back inside, her heart pounding. 'How did that strange women know my name? And she sounded kinda like Sanosuke… Speaking of Sanosuke, where is the rooster-head anyway?' thought Megumi as she comforted the petrified Ayame. She watched as the strange women lurched towards the man, swinging the bokken furiously as she tried to knock him out.
The man, who was on the brink of unconsciousness, stumbled and swung out a final time, jabbing the knife in the first open spot he could find. Which unfortunately, was between Sanosuke's ribs. With a deafening crack Sano landed a blow to the man's head, and sunk to his knees, breathing hard and spurting blood out of his massive wound with each pounding breath. Megumi plopped Ayame down on the nearest doorway, and then dashed outside fearing that she was too late. As she approached, she saw that the women had removed the knife, and was trying to staunch the flow of blood from her wound when she looked up and said weakly, "Help….me….M-megumi…" and fainted. Megumi hauled the women inside, and began to gather up her medicines, and murmured to the women softly, "I won't let you die, I swear it. You saved all of us, and I'm going to do my best for you."