CHAPTER SIX: A Heart in Anguish

"Meiou!"

Sano' sat up from his futon, his face dripping with perspiration. As he breathed deeply, he felt pain knife through his side. He touched the area to find himself bandaged and gauzed. Some areas of his body were bruised, and he felt a slight tingle on his lip, where the skin had broken.

He groaned. His body felt like lead and his head was aching terribly from his hangover. He tried to remember what had happened the night before. His brows furrowed as he tried to remember.

"Remember Sano… You will have all your questions answered… but also remember to answer the questions of your own heart… good bye…"

His eyes opened up suddenly. He remembered now. Those thugs who attacked Meiou attacked him. And then something… someone… saved him. But who…?

"Sanosuke!"

He turned towards the door to see a shadow. It looked like it belonged to…

"Rorouni…"

Kenshin pushed his door open and gazed down at him, and a puzzled look came to his face. "Oro… Sano-san? What happened to you?"

Sano touched the wound on his lip and he winced, "Got into a brawl…"

The swordsman clicked his tongue as he kneeled down in front of him and opened a package of food for him. "Hmmm… didn't we warn you that too much dice and sake can cause you harm? You're so bull-headed…"

"Shut up…" Sano cursed as he looked down at the food in front of him. "Who cooked this?"

Kenshin smiled as he pushed the food towards him. "Daijobu de gozaru. It's not Kaoru-dono's cooking, it's Meiou's." Sano nodded as he took the food and started eating. Kenshin sighed as he added, "She said something about the last thing she's ever going to make for us…"

Sano looked up at him, His mouth still full of rice, "Nani?"

"That's the last meal she's made for us." Kenshin said as he lowered his head, "She's going to leave… this afternoon."

Sano's hand stopped his movement and he stared blankly at his purple-eyed friend. He put down his food and asked, "Doko Meiou-san desu ka?"

"At the Shrine Of Eternal Forests, praying for good weather, she's heading for Shimabara… Oro! Sano? What are you…?" Kenshin asked but it was already too late. Sano had left with his jacket and had closed the door of his apartment behind him. Kenshin sighed.

"You young people just can't contain your emotions sometimes, can you?"

Meiou stood up from where she was had just finished praying to God. She put up a picture of Mary on the stand, covering the figure of Buddha, and she gazed lovingly at it. She had sketched it and made it look like Sayo, and she smiled even more as she remembered her cousin. She whispered, "Don't worry, Sayo. I'll be visiting your grave soon, okay? Wait for me there…"

"I'm coming with you."

Meiou turned to see Sano standing by the door of the shrine, closing the door as he stepped towards her. She turned away from him, "What are you doing here?"

Sano watched her from behind, watching her hair frame her lovely face. He wanted to reach out to her, to feel her like he had felt before. He wanted to show her the truth, show her what he really feels… but there are so many things needed to be explained… words needed to be said… before he would do anything. She needed to know the truth… before it comes to the point that he has to remove that blue ninja sit she's wearing.

She heard Sano snort from behind her, "Do you think I wouldn't realized that it was you who saved me last night?" He sighed, " I wanted to thank you. You saved my life. But I was wondering how…"

"You were always away. You didn't visit us for a month… after… what happened." She swallowed, "I was worried out of my mind about you. I couldn't help but thinking that you were in trouble somewhere… that you were…" She shook her head as the dreadful thoughts entered her head; "Anyway, I had to keep myself sane. I was already loosing my head. Kenshin asked me if I wanted to learn martial arts to save myself and …you, just in case trouble comes." She embraced herself as she scoffed, "Came in handy, didn't it?"

She heard Sano laugh as he said, "Hai. Soo desu ka. It did come in handy." Sano scratched his head as he added, "But I was thinking that you'd like to switch teachers, ya know. Kenshin's really into swords and… if you'd like, I can teach you my Futai No Kawami…"

"Are you saying that you want me to stay…?"

There was an awkward silence before Sano answered, "Hai. I want you to stay…"

"That's another reason why I have to leave."

Sano looked up at her to see that she was angry, but also sad as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She had snatched up the picture on the altar and had stuffed it into her suit. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a boat to catch."

"I won't let you leave… not yet." Sano said as he blocked the door.

Meiou gritted her teeth as she got into a fighting stance, "Get out of the way, Sano."

Sano looked at her again, watching her intently, waiting for her to make her move. He couldn't help but stare at her face again, and he smiled tenderly at her. "You want make a deal, Meiou?"

Meiou yelled as she launched her attack. She punched him, but he moved away with ease and caught her fist. "I say we make a deal." Sano smirked as Meiou's look got darker, "If I fight you and you win, you'll go back to Shimabara. But if I win…" Sano released her fist and got into his fighting stance, "You'll stay here and become my wife. Is that a deal?"

Meiou's eyes widened as she yelled again and launched a series of punch and kicks that Sano sidestepped with ease. As Meiou stopped to gasp for breath, Sano dusted his trousers and smirked again, "I guess that's a deal."

Meiou's look softened as she straightened up and just looked at him. She raised a palm and said, "Iku a yo…"

Sano was surprised at her reaction but instead came and started releasing a series of attacks. It seems that Meiou had learned a lot from Kenshin, because she avoided all his attacks in a swirl of flowery scents and silver hair. He kept attacking her, until she backed out into a wall. Sano smirked at the chance and aimed a powerful blow at her direction, "Gotcha!"

Whoosh! Instead of hitting Meiou, he was surprised to hit the wooden wall. His fist had splintered it to a thousand pieces. And on his fist were a pair of feet.

"What the…!"

Meiou gracefully stepped along Sano's arm, her toes balancing her as she carefully launched her attack. She swiftly walked down his arm as she bent her knee forward. And with an unexpected burst of speed and agility, she made a graceful somersault, her foot hitting Sanosuke right on the chest and chin, knocking the wind out his lungs and flipping him backwards to the floor.

He landed with a thud to the floor as Meiou landed gracefully to the floor, looking disdainfully at him. He gasped, "Where'd… you learn… to do… that!"

"In China." Meiou answered, "I already watched the Chinese martial arts, but I didn't have the flexibility to do it. Kenshin helped me to achieve the flexible body I need to launch that specific attack." She frowned as she said, "I win, Sanosuke."

Sanosuke hid his face with his hair and soon started laughing, "Nope, it's not over yet, Meiou."

Meiou's brows furrowed as she wondered about Sano's words. Suddenly, she felt like she couldn't move her legs. She collapsed to the floor, her legs giving away. She gasped when she noticed that she was completely paralyzed. "You paralyzed me!" She managed to say before falling to her side to the floor. She looked at him loathingly as he staggered to stand up.

Sano tried to stand, but he couldn't breathe, so he just crawled his way to Meiou. She was lying on her side, and Sano pushed her so she now lay on her back. He shifted his position so he was on top of her. He drew his other hand and scolded her mockingly, "You know, you really had a great technique. Too bad you haven't heard of acupuncture." He smiled, "I learned it from Shozo."

Meiou's blue eyes flared up as he reached down and pushed a strand of her hair from her face. Then he whispered, "Now, I win."

Her blue eyes almost immediately filled with tears. She tried to draw her head away to prevent Sano from seeing her crying. But since she was paralyzed, she couldn't. She just sobbed and let the tears fall from her eyes.

Seeing her cry made Sano's heart break. He touched her face and gathered one of her tears to his fingers. "Nande namida… Meiou-san?"

More tears continued to fall as she said, " I don't want to stay here. I don't want to see you away from us because of me… because you hate me."

His gazed softened and he used his other hand to draw her close to him, "Iie, Meiou-san. I didn't hate you…"

"You were always away." Meiou sobbed, her chest heaving under him, "You… you left, promising to return, but you never did. I would look for you everywhere, but you never around. I began to imagine the worse… I began to imagine that you were wounded… or… or… dead!" Her last word brought more tears to her eyes and more heart wrenching sobs.

Sano's own heart broke as she sobbed and he held her close, "Meiou…"

"I didn't want to lose you…" Meiou whispered, "I lost my cousins, my friends, my entire family. I have no one… and when you got mad at me that day, I couldn't help it. I wanted to leave so much. I want to forget everything that had happened here. Everything… because I know that I don't have anyone here. "

"Iie… you do have something here." Sano said as he raised his face to hers, "You have me… Meiou…"

She tried to speak, but as she opened her mouth, Sano's lips descended on her. He pushed his tongue into her, tasting her. She replied with great earnest, her own mouth wanting to explore him. He had pulled her closer to his body using both of his arms, and Meiou felt his entire muscled body and felt that she was in heaven. She was aware of him… of his scent, of his body, of his warmth. She moaned out his name as he continued to kiss her.

Sano was known as stoic, but at that moment, he felt like melted butter. Her body molded to his, and he felt every soft curve of her body. His arms tightened around her in their own accord, bring her body closer to his and bringing him into the edge of insanity. The flowery scent he had always smelled around her was now stronger… more potent. He gasped as he drew away, feeling his desire already swelling up.

"Meiou…" he whispered, "I can't… I'm not a saint…"

She knew what he meant. She could feel something poking at the inside of her thighs. She blushed at the thought of what it was and she said to Sano, "If you do something I do not like, I will personally kick your butt."

Her words sort of embarrassed Sano. He thought she was ready but it seemed like she wasn't. He started to get off her when she started laughing. His brows furrowed, "Nani?"

Meiou smiled and said, "I said, 'If you do something I do not like'. Don't you know what that means! Baka!"

Sano looked at her curiously before finding out her hidden meaning. He laughed, "Ahhh! Atashi no baka!" Meiou also laughed as Sano came down on top of her again.

But Meiou stopped him suddenly, "Matte kudasai, Sano."

"Nani?"

Meiou's brows knit as she said, "I need to ask some questions."

Sano's eyebrows went up in a question, "What sort of questions?"

"First you must tell me where have you been all this time."

Sano eased himself off Meiou for a moment, "Well, to tell you the truth, I was in Shimabara, visiting Sayo's grave. See, at that time, I was sort of debating who I loved most…"

Meiou's face burned as he said those words.

"I knew then that I already loved you, but I still couldn't tell since… well, I was in love with your cousin. But when I got there, that's when I realized the truth that I was in love with you. In a way, I visited her to tell her that and to say goodbye." He snorted as he added, "Although most people thought it would be insane to say goodbye to a dead person's grave."

Meiou's face burned as she replied, "Atashi… atashi… aishiteru, Sano-san."

Sano kissed her neck, "Aishiteru, Meiou." He raised his head as he asked, "What's the second one?"

Meiou smiled devilishly as she said, "How do you expect me to show how much I love you if I can't move!"

Sano laughed again as he pushed a certain point on Meiou's neck, enabling her to move. No sooner has she felt her muscles coming back to life that she embraced him and kissed him with unabashed passion. She whispered, "Sanosuke…"

As Meiou said his name, he knew that he must do something. He drew her close and loosened her obi, and laying her down on the floor, sent her to the place she was longing for…

Outside, the dark clouds continued to swirl around the sky, as the lonely purple-eyed Rorouni went home with a confused expression.