D/C: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Hi! I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, but I was busy writing another story and I just couldn't update. Anyway, thank you all for the reviews, and…whatever! Just read!

CHAPTER 5:

Megumi locked the front door, put the key in her hand bag, and hurried towards her car, which was waiting for her in the garage. It was another morning, and another day where she had to face the world. She felt a lot better about it this time, though, all due to Sano's words of comfort and concern. She only felt bad about one thing; Sano wasn't in the house, and she so wanted to see him before she left.

Could he have gone and left her now? Did he consider his work done and had left and will never come back? She tried to shake off these thoughts as she unlocked the door to her car. She didn't want to have such thoughts because she really didn't want Sano to leave…she really has come to like him.

She opened the door and climbed inside the car. She slammed the door shut and grabbed the stirring wheel.

'Good! Are we going now?'

Megumi jumped. She glared around at Sano, who was perched excitedly on the passenger's seat next to her. 'Stop doing that!' she scolded him.

'Doing what?' he said, looking confused.

'Appearing everywhere so suddenly!' she told him. 'It freaks me out!'

'Oh,' he said, comprehension dawning upon his features. 'Sorry.'

'No, it's okay…just, don't do it anymore, alright?' she said, and he nodded. 'What are you doing in my car, anyway?'

Secretly, she felt relieved that Sano was in her car. That meant that he hadn't really gone anywhere and left her. But she was still curious to know what he wanted.

'Aren't you going to work?' he asked her.

'Well, yeah, but…' she started.

'Okay, so I'm going to work with you!' he exclaimed, saying it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 'Isn't that cool?'

Megumi looked incredulously at him. 'Okay, hold on, wait,' she said. 'Why is it that you want to go to work with me? I can take care of myself, really, if that's what you're doing…guarding me, that is.'

'No, I just want to see you at work,' he replied.

'But…but you've seen me at work before!' she said, exasperated. 'There's really nothing different about it now! Patients come, I talk to them, they thank me and they leave…'

'So? I still want to come with you,' Sano chirped. Then he frowned. 'Unless, of course, you're trying to not let me go to work with you…don't you want me around?'

'What? No, Sano…' she groaned, and massaged her temples. 'Listen, I'm gonna be working today, I think you might distract me if you came along, and I really don't want to be more distracted than I already am…you understand?'

'Oh…alright,' he mumbled. He grinned at her. 'So, can I pick you up for lunch then?'

'Lunch?' she repeated, sounding rather apprehensive.

'Yeah, lunch,' Sano replied. He smirked. 'That's what you have at two p.m., or do you have a posh word for it? Or maybe…you're scared of the idea of having to have lunch outside?'

'No! Of course not!' she said heatedly. 'Okay, you can pick me up at two! Now get out so I can go to work!'

-

'Well, then, Mr. Aikida, I'll see you next Wednesday?'

The man sitting on the chair before her smiled and nodded. 'Yeah, I'll be here,' he told her. 'Thanks for listening, doctor…I must've bored you, eh?'

'No, not at all,' Megumi assured her patient, smiling. 'It's what I do, isn't it? And besides, I really enjoy conversations with my patients.'

Mr. Aikida stood up and pulled on his coat. 'I just wanted to say that I'm on your side, doc,' he said. 'Those people outside know nothing about how it's like to be a psychiatrist, and they certainly know nothing about what happened with that kid…they simply have no right to say all sorts of bullshit about you; you're a very good doctor.'

Megumi was overwhelmed. 'Mr. Aikida…thanks,' she said softly. 'You don't know how much that means to me.'

'Ah, your welcome, doctor,' the man said, smiling. 'Well, I'll see you in three days then. Bye!'

Megumi waved idly at the man as he left the room. Then she pressed the button on her intercom device, and spoke into it. 'Alright, Ikue, any more patients?' she asked her secretary, one of the few people who remained faithful to her.

'Uh…well, there's this guy…he came two weeks ago, Sanosuke Sagara?' Ikue replied. 'He says he wants to talk to you…um, do you want me to send him in?'

Megumi sighed in exasperation. 'Alright, send him in,' she said wearily, but a smile touched her lips just the same.

'Okay,' Ikue agreed, and disconnected.

Megumi quickly checked her reflection in the mirror; she looked good. Then she sat properly on her chair and folded her arms on the desk before her.

Sano barged into the room without knocking on the door. 'Greetings, my favorite doctor!' he exclaimed, grinning widely.

Megumi tried her best not to roll her eyes, but failed. 'First of all, you could knock, second of all, a simple hello would do,' she told him. 'And third of all, I thought I told you not to come here?'

Sano's smile drooped. 'And I would've settled for a smile, y'know,' he muttered. He pointed at the clock hanging on her wall. 'Besides, it's two o'clock now! Time for lunch!'

'Didn't I tell you to wait for my call?' she said wearily.

'Well, I could wait but I'm afraid my stomach wouldn't,' he said, grinning sheepishly. 'Aw, c'mon, Megumi, you have no patients out there, and I bet you're feeling all hungry now! Let's go have lunch together! I'll let you pick the restaurant this time!'

Megumi smiled.

-

Sano pressed his face against the window and stared out at the restaurant Megumi had pulled up before. Somehow, he didn't like what he was seeing.

'Note to self; in the future, don't let Megumi pick the restaurants,' he muttered to himself.

'Oh, for God's sake!' Megumi cried, exasperated. 'Sano, you alone would find the idea of going to one of the most luxurious restaurants in town horrible!'

'These restaurants are just for people who care about appearances! And I don't like to think of you that way!' he said heatedly. He then paused, and Megumi frowned at him. 'That didn't come out right, did it?'

'No, it didn't,' she replied. 'But think about it this way; this restaurant has some pretty amazing meals, they're really good, and I know for sure that you will like them.'

'And I reckon I'll have to eat properly with a fork and a knife, right?' he mumbled.

'Um…how do you eat then?' Megumi demanded. Sano chose not to reply, and she stayed silent for a while before speaking up again. 'You know what? Okay, we won't go to this restaurant.'

Sano watched curiously as she pulled out of her space. 'What are you doing? I thought you loved this restaurant,' he said, quietly. 'I'm not going to force you to eat someplace else if you don't want to.'

'But the food you got from that restaurant yesterday was really good, too,' she replied, without looking at him. 'I'd like to have some more of it.'

'Megumi, you don't have to do it for me,' he persisted. 'I assure you, I can survive in that restaurant.'

'Don't be silly,' she said, laughing. 'What makes you think I'm doing this for you?'

'Okay, so why are you doing this?' Sano asked. 'You hated the place because you got picked on in it the other day…I assumed you'd never want to set foot in there again.'

'Sano, that's exactly why I'm doing this, I want to prove you people wrong,' Megumi whispered.

For a split second, Sano was still staring at her, but then he grinned and sat back in his seat. 'This sounds exciting, we're gonna kick some butt!' he exclaimed, and when Megumi raised her eyebrows at him, he added hastily, 'Or talk…talking is good, I like talking…do you like talking?'

Megumi just shook her head in exasperation. She was feeling really nervous now; the prospect of having to walk into that restaurant again was making her feel really anxious and worried. What if she failed to stand up to the people like the last time? What if she broke down and started crying again? What will Sano think of her then? Will he stop liking her and consider her unworthy of his time, and then he'll decide to ditch her?

'Relax, you'll be fine,' Sano assured her, resting his hand gently on her shoulder.

'What makes you think I'm nervous?' she said, feeling uneasy.

'Well, for one, you're gripping the stirring wheel so tightly…the poor thing, I think it's choking,' he teased her, and she glared at him, but she did relax her grip on the wheel. 'Second, I read your mind…and it told me you're really nervous.'

'I told you to stop reading my mind!' she said angrily. 'My thoughts are private, or else I'd have said them aloud, don't you think?'

'I'm really sorry, I couldn't resist,' he murmured. 'And anyway, how can you even think about me leaving you? I will never leave you no matter what! I'm planning on getting some glue and sticking myself to you if that's what it takes!'

'Thanks,' she said, smiling at him. All of a sudden, she felt better about going to the restaurant. 'But let's leave the glue aside, okay?'

'Yeah, good idea,' he said, nodding his head vigorously.

Megumi drove in silence. Neither she nor Sano exchanged a word during the ride. But it wasn't an uncomfortable silence; in fact, she felt it was really pleasant. They arrived at the restaurant in a short while. She found a vacant spot in the parking lot, and they both climbed out of the car.

Sano took her hand and squeezed it gently. 'You ready?' he asked her.

'Yeah, I think,' she said quietly. 'Let's go in.'

Sano let go of her hand, and they walked, side-by-side, towards the restaurant. Sano pushed the door open and let her through, and they both crossed towards the counter. Megumi glanced out of the corner of her eyes at the people in the restaurant, and was rather unnerved to see that the guy who had insulted her yesterday was sitting right there, with the same friends and at the same table. Sano noticed her uneasiness, and took her hand in his, smiling reassuringly at her.

'Okay, what do I get you?' the guy at the counter asked.

'What do you want?' Sano asked her.

'Um…the one we had yesterday,' Megumi murmured. 'The cheese burger?'

'Alright…two cheese burgers then,' Sano told the guy. He nodded and went to get their order. He looked around at Megumi. 'Do you want to sit down?'

'No,' Megumi murmured, holding tightly onto his hand. 'I'll wait here with you.'

Sano didn't say anything. They both waited till the guy came back with their orders, and then they both picked up their trays and went to find an empty table. They found one and sat down. Megumi started unwrapping her burger, hands trembling as she did. Sano watched her warily as he ate at his own burger.

Megumi could see the man who had insulted her the other day from where she was sitting, and she saw that he was pointing at her and snickering amongst his group. She tried to ignore him and turned her attention to her burger. She had only taken her first few bites when the first insult reached her ears.

'…of course, some one with enough brains wouldn't come here again,' the man said. 'But, I guess that goes to prove the point that they really are stupid and have no idea whatsoever about what they're doing.'

Megumi jaw clenched, and she gripped her burger tightly. Sano just gave her an encouraging smile over his burger.

Don't crack now, don't cry, don't lose your cool…Sano's sitting right next to you, he won't let the man harm you, don't flip now…don't…

'It just shocks me how they became doctors when they probably have intelligence the size of a tiny teaspoon,' the man sneered. 'That just shows that it was really their fault innocent lives were lost, don't you think?'

Megumi nerves reached their break point. She put down her burger, took a deep breath, and stood up. Everyone in the restaurant had his or her eyes on Megumi now.

'Oh! I think we're gonna be having another crying fiasco!' the man leered. 'Who betted on her lasting less than five minutes in here?'

'Why don't you just shut up?' she snapped.

The man wasn't fazed at all. 'And we find that she actually is able to speak!' he said, smirking.

'What the hell is wrong with you, you bastard? Do you enjoy making fun of me or something? Is someone paying you to actually sit there and insult me the way you're doing?' she spat at him. 'Well, I want you to get off my back! Do you think that this entire situation is my fault? I didn't go and tell that kid to jump off the bridge and kill himself! I did a very good job, you can go and ask any other patient who came to me before Taito, and they'll tell you the same thing! I helped lots of people; I stopped lots of them from causing themselves some serious injury! Who the hell do you think you are to come here and judge me by one single patient?'

The man snorted. 'A patient…who may I remind you, killed himself because you didn't do a good job,' he muttered.

'Weren't you listening to me?' she snapped. 'Are you deaf or dumb or something? I said…it. Wasn't. My. Fault! If you want some one to blame go for the parents! They took their kid off the treatment six weeks too early! They assumed that their son was well again and wouldn't listen to me when I told them to keep him some more, and the next day he goes and kills himself! Do you think I feel happy about it? NO! I DON'T! I care deeply for the fate of my patients, and wouldn't want anything to happen to any of them! And, pray tell me, what would I have gained by telling Taito to kill himself? Do you think I'm enjoying this? Do you think I'm happy to have the entire world screaming in my face that they hate me and they'd rather see me jumping off the bridge than the kid? Do you think it makes me happy, you perverted sicko? Huh? Do you?'

The man stared at her, too stunned for words. Every one else was silent too. Sano had just finished his burger and was wiping his mouth on his napkin.

Megumi felt gratified. 'No, I thought not,' she sneered. 'Well, if you have anything else to say to me, I'll be waiting for you in my office, you could use some treatment, a person with a bitchy attitude such as yours needs to be sorted out, don't you think?'

With that, she tossed her hair back over her shoulders and sat down. She was still reeling from all the excitement and intensity of the situations, and couldn't help but smile.

She leaned forward across the table to Sano. 'I did it!' she whispered excitedly. 'I stood up to them!'

What happened next was totally unexpected. Sano had leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her lips. He pulled back after a few minutes, and was looking at her in an odd sort of way.

'I'm so proud of you, Meg,' he said softly.

Megumi stared at him, still leaning across the table. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She shook her head, as if shaking herself from a trance, and sat back in her chair. Fortunately, everyone was busy discussing what she had just spat at the guy to notice anything.

Sano was watching her apprehensively, and she smiled at him. Somehow, his kiss made her feel happier than the stunned silence she had earned herself a minute ago.

-

A/N: Ah! Wasn't that nice? I worked so hard on this chappie so you'd better like it and you'd better have a big, juicy review up your sleeves for me, alright? I'm waiting! Oh, and you, too, wait for my next chappie!

-ZEN.