DISCLAIMER: I do not own nor will I ever own Rurouni Kenshin. I am making no profit from this and I will remove this if requested to do so for any legitimate reason.
WARNING: This story is rated R for violence, so if you do not like graphic depictions of people dying I suggest you find something else to read.
Author's notes: As promised a little more Sano and Megumi in this chapter and remember to review if you can, I appreciate them all.
The Last Battle of the Bakumatsu
Chapter 14
Sano sat under a tree in the front yard of the dojo. They had arrived back with nothing much to do and the general consensus was to go straight to bed. Sano had set out an extra futon for Outa in his room while Aoshi and Misao went to their own rooms. Kaoru had her room and was sleeping with Kenji, while the remaining empty room was Megumi's. Sano had intended to go to sleep but then decided to wait for Kenshin's return so that they could talk about Yahiko. Waiting outside was the easiest way to catch him alone and avoid informing someone else on exactly what had happened to Yahiko.
The trio of people entered as silently as everyone else had when they had arrived earlier. Yahiko was in the lead but he looked a little out of it, moving on autopilot rather than concentrating on where he was going. Megumi followed behind him and was watching him closely with a concerned expression. Kenshin was last and had his arms folded over his chest. He also looked to be deep in thought and occasionally gripped the sword hanging from his side. They all quietly went into the house and Sano was beginning to think that Kenshin wasn't as sharp as he used to be. However he stopped in front of the door and waited before he closed it and walked back in Sano's direction.
"I didn't think you'd stop," Sano announced as Kenshin stopped a couple of paces away.
"The fact you waited for me out here showed that you wanted to talk to me alone," Kenshin surmised.
"So how is Yahiko?" Sano bluntly asked, not surprising the former rurouni.
"He's still coming to terms with what has happened. He doesn't know how to feel, act or atone for what he has done. We didn't get a lot of time to speak because of Megumi-dono," Kenshin looked regretfully at the house as Sano watched him.
"Well for someone who has grown up being taught not to kill, trying to understand something like that won't be easy. Jou-chan and Tsubame were also asking about him so you might not get a good night's rest," Kenshin smiled weakly in acknowledgement.
"You didn't tell them anything then," Sano shook his head before he answered.
"I told them that they needed to talk to Yahiko. You didn't happen to get Yahiko to talk about Tsubame, did you?" Kenshin shook his head also and Sano sighed in frustration.
"I believe your assumption was correct, Tsubame does have something to do with this but Yahiko isn't ready to tell us yet. We just have to wait till he talks to one of us," Sano's eyebrow was raised in question as Kenshin spoke.
"You really want my help on this, after all I'm not afraid to kill if I need to," Sano watched Kenshin's serious face and could feel Kenshin examining him.
"I won't judge you and I can't stop you from killing but I don't approve of it. However Yahiko still looks up to you and you can understand what he is going through. You were also there when all of this happened so you have knowledge that both Yahiko and myself need. You are able to kill but you recognise that Yahiko isn't so I would like you to help if you can." Sano's head was bowed so that his eyes were shadowed and Kenshin waited for a response from Sano.
"You may not have a problem with it but I think Jou-chan will," Sano cautiously raised his gaze back to Kenshin's face.
"I'm sure that I can help Kaoru understand the situation without her blaming anyone," Kenshin could see the dubious look Sano gave him.
"Don't worry about it Kenshin, I'll help where I can," Sano stated seriously after dispelling his doubts about Kaoru.
"Thank you Sano but remember that you aren't to blame," there was a silent pause where Kenshin could see a shadow pass over Sano's eyes. "I'll say good night then," Kenshin said suddenly as he turned and walked away.
"Night Kenshin and don't get too used to having that sword again, I'm sure Jou-chan wouldn't approve," Kenshin paused to look over his shoulder. He smiled back at Sano before he entered the house and went straight towards his room. He paused when he heard a shoji open and spotted Megumi stepping out of her room in her yukata. She was carrying a sake bottle and two cups as she moved over to Sano's door and slowly opened it. When she didn't enter, Kenshin walked up quietly behind her and looked past her, into the room. In the room Outa slept silently and Yahiko had taken Sano's futon but even though he appeared to be asleep, Kenshin believed otherwise.
"Sano's outside," Megumi nearly jumped out of her skin as Kenshin's hushed voice reached her. She slid the shoji shut after catching her breath but when she turned around to glare at Kenshin, he had already disappeared into his own room. Megumi stood fuming in the hallway for a few moments and almost lost her nerve but decided to continue on. She walked outside and stood on the porch peering into the darkness trying to spot Sano. A shuffle of movement from beneath the tree drew Megumi's attention and she headed in that direction.
"Not exactly a good night to be sitting under a tree," Megumi was a little startled as Sano's head snapped up, surprised by her presence. There was an awkward silence as they both tried to regain a little composure.
"Not exactly a good night for a walk either," Sano replied, lifting the tension momentarily. Megumi waited a few moments before she moved alongside Sano and sat down next to him.
"Well I don't like to drink alone," Megumi spoke in a hushed voice as she displayed the sake she had bought before she went to Shinsuu.
"No one likes to drink alone when they don't have too," Sano responded as he took the two cups from her, allowing her to open the sake. Megumi filled his cup and watched as Sano took his first sip. A look of surprise passed over his face as he examined the sake as if it would reveal some answers.
"Something wrong?" Megumi's quiet question didn't bring an immediate answer. When he did respond, Sano handed her his cup and took the sake bottle to refill it. Megumi cautiously drank the liquid to find that it tasted surprisingly good.
"This is the same stuff I gave to my old man but it tastes a hell of a lot better," Sano commented as he refilled Megumi's cup and then his own.
"It does taste nice but is that so strange?" Megumi watched Sano stop midway through the motion of drinking his sake. His features seemed to darken a little before he drank the sake and looked thoughtfully into the empty cup.
"I haven't tasted good sake in a long time, maybe only a few times in my life. Even after Kenshin beat me the taste of the sake I drank didn't really improve. I thought that once I got back things might have changed but the sake still tasted the same. Strange since not much has changed in the last couple of hours," Sano seemed lost in the depth of his cup as he continued to stare into it.
"What do you mean by 'change'?" Sano looked away from his cup and at her briefly before looking through the branches of the tree and up at the sky.
"Kenshin once told me that if good sake doesn't taste right it's because there is something wrong with you. I don't think I've changed since the last time I drank," Sano looked down and picked up the sake bottle from where he had left it.
"Maybe it's just the company that's changed," Megumi quietly suggested as she offered her cup to be refilled. He looked at her and noticed a small, genuine smile that seemed to reinforce her words.
"Maybe," Sano replied as he filled her cup and reciprocated her smile. Megumi was glad for the dark surroundings as she felt a heady blush flush her cheeks. They fell into an eerie silence where neither of them wanted to speak for fear of breaking the moment. Megumi thought she might say something stupid and Sano thought she would think anything he said would be stupid.
"It's too quiet," Sano groaned as he finally gave up trying to think of an intelligent comment.
"That's one way to solve it but there are plenty of others," Megumi chided as Sano fidgeted in place trying to scratch the itch on his back by rubbing it against the tree.
"It just reminds me of when I was travelling through China," Sano settled back done having relieved his itch.
"Yes, I believe you mentioned someone called Yang," Megumi commented as Sano poured more sake for her and then himself.
"That old man was a real pain even though he made me stronger," Sano's bittersweet tone peaked Megumi's interest.
"Are you going to talk or would you prefer the quiet?" Megumi smugly suggested when Sano hesitated.
"He was old, sixty I think but he looked ancient and I mean older than a hundred. I was in Shanghai when I got in the middle of his fight, not that he needed my help but he destroyed my meal. He was good and at the time if I had challenged him I probably would have gotten my butt kicked. He seemed to regret destroying my meal but more guys showed up and I ended being seen as his accomplice. So in the end we were both on the run from the Chinese authorities," Sano spoke of his little insurrection with a little too much pride for Megumi.
"Obviously you hadn't learned your lesson from being on the run from the Japanese government," Megumi frowned at Sano but he didn't seem to mind.
"When the government is corrupt, you should be proud you stood up to them," Sano replied much to Megumi's dismay.
"So you were on the run in China as well," Megumi decided it was better to just get on with the story rather than try and convince him his antics were useless.
"Basically but they didn't particularly care about me. If I had gone anywhere other than with Yang they probably would have let me go." Sano noticed the confusion on Megumi's face so he expanded on his answer after finishing his latest cup of sake.
"It wasn't that I wasn't considered a criminal, it was that Yang's crimes were far greater than mine. He used to be an assassin for the emperor but he failed a particularly important job. Since he failed and his target got away, he brought dishonour to the emperor and was sentenced to death. Of course they didn't have him in custody so they executed his entire family instead." Sano paused after he heard Megumi gasp at his revelation about Yang's family and filled both their empty cups.
"They just executed them, even though they weren't to blame?" Megumi looked at Sano in disbelief but his head was bowed and his eyes focused on the ground.
"A wife, three sons and two daughters all beheaded. Yang had been trying to get back to the emperor but he found out they were dead before he arrived to take their place. He couldn't bring himself to hate the emperor so he turned all his hate on those around him. He would kill their wives and children one night before coming back the next night to kill them." Sano took a brief glance to side to see Megumi's eyes hard as she stared out into the distance.
"He was just as bad as they were," Megumi stated coldly and Sano nodded. He offered her another drink and she quickly drank the remainder of her sake, allowing Sano to refill it.
"I'm not disagreeing with you but I can understand how he was feeling. Although I doubt I could have gone as far as killing women and children," Sano's thoughts hung in the air, as they both remained silent for a few minutes.
"So why did you travel with him when you knew what he had done?" Megumi watched a wry smile appear on Sano's lips before he spoke.
"I didn't find out about it until I had travelled with him for a few months. We ran into some imperial guards and it turned into a tough fight. That was when he told me what was going on but it was also the fight that helped me decide to stay." Sano heard Megumi huff hopelessly at his comments.
"Trust you to make a decision based on a fight," Megumi replied as Sano stared at her inquisitively.
"Hey it was an easy choice considering what had happened. Yang was a great fighter but he also knew how to manipulate people. I followed him because I wanted to learn his style of fighting but he said I had to master the Futae-no-Kiwami and myself. He made sure that I would do what I thought were pointless exercises by making me train for food. If he thought I wasn't meditating properly he would smack me over the head with a stick… What?" Sano stopped when he noticed that Megumi was finding this part of his story very amusing.
"I can just imaging you being trained like a circus animal," Megumi's joke only drew a scowl from Sano and he downed his sake in protest.
"If you are going to be like that, I might as well be quiet," Sano indignantly stated, dampening Megumi's mood.
"Sorry Sano but it is amusing. I don't see what it had to do with your decision to stay with him though," Megumi watched Sano as he brooded for a few moments.
"That was what he made me do for the few months we travelled before we ran into the imperial guards. The men we fought before them were weak but those guards were fierce and they were good. It was a tough fight but it proved how much stronger I had become because of what Yang was drilling into me. After that I didn't need to be forced to train and I was quite happy to stick around, after all when you have someone willing to teach you, you take the chance. That's the same thing I told Misao when I found out Aoshi stopped training her," Sano paused to drink some more sake while Megumi declined another round.
"Anyway, Yang and I travelled around for a couple more months running into people trying to hunt us down every now and then. During the winter he started to get sick and he changed directions. He knew he was dying and he wanted to pay his last respects to his family. The graveyard was full of soldiers but it was snowing which gave us an advantage. When I say us, I mean me. He was in no shape to fight and so he gave me those gauntlets to fight with. It was the best fight I had since I left Japan and by the time the snow stopped there was only one guy left. He was the successor to Yang," Sano seemed to tune out the rest of the world as he remembered every detail of the fight.
"So are you going to tell me or just keep dreaming?" Megumi urged as Sano's silence lengthened beyond what Megumi believed reasonable.
"It was a damn good fight and I only just walked away from it. It hurt ten times more than my fight with Anji but it was worth it, I couldn't stop smiling. I went off looking to find Yang to brag about my victory and to see if he could patch up some of my wounds. Of course he had to go and die before he could teach me his technique but since he was by his wife's grave I suppose he was happy." Sano realised the sake bottle was empty and sighed dejectedly feeling the need to toast Yang one last time.
"So then what did you do?" Megumi inquired as Sano stood up and stretched.
"I buried him where he lay, patched my own wounds and left China. That is the end of the story and the end of the sake, so it is the end of this night," Sano reached down and offered Megumi a hand up. She accepted but was a little shaky on her feet and had to lean on Sano momentarily. Once she regained her poise, Megumi started to walk towards the house with Sano walking alongside her.
"Thank you Sano, it was a pleasant evening," Sano shrugged still a little down from reliving his old memories. "It's dark enough already without you looking like you are going to a funeral." Megumi's protest was made as she stopped in the doorway to break his silent brooding.
"Sorry Fox but all my stories are kind of depressing. Everyone I travelled with for more than six months either died or betrayed me so it's not easy to forget about it." Megumi examined Sano with a worried expression, which made Sano a little self-conscious.
"Are we going to stand out here all night?" Megumi smiled smugly at Sano's defensive tone before she turned inside and headed for her room. She paused at the door of her own room to see Sano's reaction once he looked into his. He stared into his room for a few moments before firmly shutting the door, thrusting his hands into his pockets and then walking back down the hallway.
"The brat took my futon, I'm going to sleep in the training hall," Sano grumbled as he past Megumi and headed back the way they came in.
"You know you could always sleep in my room," Megumi started to regret her offer as Sano looked over his shoulder with a sly grin.
"Now there is definitely an offer I can't refuse," Sano's suggestive tone was clear as he sauntered back to Megumi.
"I offered to share the room, not my futon," Megumi's voice was a firm whisper but still it was loud for this time of night.
"That's okay, a futon is a little restrictive, I prefer to have the whole room to use," Sano could tell that Megumi was become a little agitated by his manner.
"Just what exactly are you suggesting," Megumi's voice was laced with suspicion as she looked up defiantly at him.
"That depends on how good your imagination is," Sano leaned down so that his face was within inches of Megumi's but his grin remained in place. In an instant both of them realised what position they were in but rather than back away, they both found themselves entertaining thoughts of closing the distance. Time seemed to be dragging out when Sano was surprised to find Megumi press a finger to his lips.
"I can imagine quiet a lot but I doubt you could live up to my expectations," Megumi smiled as she left the blank faced Sano in the doorway and went to dig out the spare futon from the cupboard.
"I'm sure I could meet your expectations but I don't think that the rest of the house would appreciate being kept awake all night." Sano's voice was followed by the sound the shoji sliding shut and Megumi glanced over her shoulder. She noticed Sano's head jerk slightly as he looked away and she realised that he must have been watching her.
"Do you really think you could reach my expectations even if you tried all night? Of course that is if you actually had that kind of stamina," Megumi placed the folded futon she had retrieve in between them. Her hands still gripped its edges as Sano knelt down in front of her and lightly placed his hands over hers. Sano hesitated as he studied her, trying to discern something as his face hovered inches in front of hers.
"They are two separate things, I'm sure I could surpass your expectations easily and after that… well I guess it depends on how good your stamina is." Megumi was finding it hard to scowl at him, as the playful nature threatened to make her kiss him or burst out laughing. She backed away first but felt Sano tighten his grip on her hands slightly, however it wasn't enough to hold them there. She turned back to replace the objects she had removed from the cupboard to retrieve the futon.
When she turned back to Sano, Megumi saw that he was busy readying the futon and trying hard not to look in her direction. She decided against speaking up and instead slipped into her own futon. Her back was to Sano and she could hear him shuffling about until he let out a deep sigh as he settled into his futon. Megumi stayed motionless for a few minutes as she contemplated what was happening between them. She eventually rolled onto her back and glanced at Sano. He lay on his back with one arm cushioning his head and the other laying at his side. He appeared to be sleeping but Megumi could tell that he was still awake.
Megumi closed her eyes as she decided against speaking again. She had no taunt or remark to come back with because her mind was solely focused on what was happening between them. No matter what she tried to say, she believed that it would come out as a question about how he felt. The truth was that Megumi didn't know what she felt herself but what had happened upon his return was a pleasant revelation. She had realised that she had missed his presence when he had gone and that she had known little about him but he had returned a different person. That is why she was holding back now, as she tried to figure out how much he had changed. As she drifted off to sleep she smiled as thoughts of what might happen drifted through her head but she didn't know that Sano was watching her with a warm smile of his own.