Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin and I don't own Sano and Megumi. They belong to someone who isn't me.

Author's Note: This story is set about six years after Sano leaves for his world traveling and the Kenshin-gumi splits up. I have ignored the "Reflections" OVA timeline, which has Kenshin leaving. In my story he is safely in Tokyo with his family and that's were he's staying. There are flashbacks in this story, they are written in italics. Read and Review if you like. Flames will be given to Shishio. Thanks!

Going Home

Takani Megumi slowly walked towards the clinic in Aizu, nodding at the familiar faces in the market place, but not really noticing them.

She had been working at the clinic in Aizu for six years, she had left Tokyo shortly after Sano had left and Kenshin and Kaoru had gotten married, but she still got lost easily.

Aizu had never really felt like home to her since she had returned, even though she had been born there.

'Maybe I should drop by the dojo and see how Kaoru is faring.' Megumi thought before she remembered the Kamiya dojo was very far from Aizu.

"Stupid Kitsune." She muttered under her breath, and stopped, "Kitsune" was a nickname Sano had given her, one that she had always hated. What had gotten into her?

Megumi began to quicken her pace when she saw the clinic ahead of her.

It was late afternoon so she'd be the only doctor there, but she didn't mind. She needed time alone to think and get her mind straightened out.

Over the past few weeks, everything had reminded her of her friends and life in Tokyo, and with a start she realized she was homesick.

"Megumi, your life in Tokyo was a chapter that's closed; now you have to look ahead towards your future." Megumi whispered to herself, as she placed some of the herbs she had just bought at the market on a cutting board. She was trying to make her future look bright but Megumi knew it was very bleak in reality.

She was already almost 33, well past marriageable age. It wasn't that men hadn't asked for her hand, it was that she had turned them all down.

Her friends often asked her why she did that and she always told them the truth. Marriage was a commitment, one that she wouldn't make lightly and the only man she had ever wanted to marry was far away from Japan.

"Sano's probably forgotten that I even exist, it would be just like that stupid rooster head!" Megumi began to cut the herbs, enjoying the spicy scent as it tickled her nose, "Hmm, it smells like Dr. Gensai's clinic, this is the herb I put on Sano's hand after he cut it saving me." The memory rose unbidden into her mind

She held the knife, aiming it towards her throat and hesitated. There really wasn't any other choice for her; she had killed so many people with her opium it would be wrong for her to live.

Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes and prepared to kill herself. Suddenly the door swung back and crashed into the wall, "What are you doing, you crazy woman?" a loud voice demanded.

With a soft cry Megumi lowered the knife and turned to face the man who had just run in, "There isn't any other way for me. I'm not worthy to live."

Megumi looked away from the man and closed her eyes but before she could cut her throat the man grabbed the blade with his hand and threw it away from them.

With a gasp Megumi was broken out of her thoughts when the blade she was using bit into her hand. She stared blankly at the blood dripping out of the wound, "It's the same place where Sano cut his hand on the knife I was going the kill myself with."

With a shake of her head, she washed the wound and bandaged it carefully, "Megumi, you can't afford to be day dreaming while you're using knifes," she scolded herself.

She turned back to finish her work but she found that she had chopped all of the herbs she had taken out. She knelt before the table and with a few sweep of her hand; she brushed all of the pieces into a small basket.

"Before I grind them, I think I'll make a cup of tea. It will help me focus."

The thought of tea triggered another memory for her, a memory very close to her heart.

She had been invited to the dojo for dinner, an invitation she had been glad to accept.

The meal was over and she was preparing to go back to the clinic. "Be careful Megumi-dono." Kenshin said in soft voice.

Megumi smiled though she knew what he was referring to.

Since more boats had begun docking at Tokyo, it was getting dangerous for women to go anywhere alone, "Don't worry. I'll be fine." She assured them calmly.

"'Course you will be," a voice drawled.

"Oh?" Megumi raised one eyebrow and faced Sano, who was leaning against the wall.

"Because I'm going with you," Sano finished his sentence as he straightened up.

"That's very kind of you, but you don't have to do it for me."

"I'm not. I have to go back to my own house, and I won't mind the walk. So are we leaving or are we going to argue about it?"

Megumi could see she wasn't going to win this argument so she tightened her shawl across her shoulders, "I'm ready."

They walked into the yard of the dojo together, and Megumi shivered, "It's very cold tonight," she stated, "Maybe once we reach the clinic you could come in for a cup of tea before you go back to your house."

Sano paused, "You'd actually trust me enough to let me into the clinic?"

Megumi fixed him with a glare, "You come in their often enough to annoy me, why would you consider being invited in any different?" she snapped.

"It's just that if you invite me in, it seems to indicate that you like me. Do you?"

Megumi's cheeks flushed. "A little."

"Only a little?" It was Sano's turn to raise an eyebrow as he watched Megumi nervously begin kneading her shawl. "Maybe more then a little," Megumi admitted.

Sano smirked at her admission and lapsed into silence as they walked a little further but Megumi paused at the gate of the dojo, "But I insist you come in for some tea when we reach the clinic."

Sano rolled his eyes but turned to face her, "And after we have the tea are you expecting me to kiss you?" he inquired sarcastically.

"Only if you want too!" Megumi heard her voice rising at pace with her blush.

"And if I did want too, what would you do?"

"I don't know. I've never been kissed before." She shouted in a flustered voice.

"Then why should we waste time drinking a cup of tea? Why don't I kiss you here?" Before Megumi could answer, Sano had pulled her into a kiss.

Megumi pulled back slightly at first but she quickly closed the distance between them again.

She heard someone laughing from the dojo, but she ignored it. 'Nothing is going to break this moment,' Megumi decided silently but far too soon for her taste, Sano pulled back, "Come on Kitsune, we'd better get going."

Megumi blinked, and focused her eyes on the green herbs in the bowl, "Maybe I'll go back to Tokyo for a visit," she spoke in a soft voice, nodding with satisfaction.

As she stood up from the table to fix a cup of tea, she continued to talk to herself, "I shouldn't be like this. I'm so distracted…" her voice trailed off as she thought of Sano again.

She missed him. When she was alone, she could admit she missed him.

She had pretended to be indifferent when he had left but the truth was she almost died.

Megumi turned her back on the man and began to grind some herbs into a powder so he couldn't see the tears that were filling her eyes.

Sano stood behind her, his signature red headband and white jacket had been exchanged for more western style clothes and she hardly recognized him.

"I know you don't understand Kitsune, but I won't be gone for the rest of our lives. I'll come back."

Megumi tried to ignore the slightly pleading note in his voice, but the words he wasn't saying rang in her head, "Wait for me Kitsune. Please still be waiting for me when I get back here."

Megumi took a deep breath to steady her voice, "I understand why you're leaving Sano. You beat up a member of the government and they want to arrest you."

She wasn't looking at Sano but she winced as the words came out. Her tone was more biting then she had intended and she knew it had wounded him, though he'd never have admitted it.

Sano sighed, "I don't know if you even care Megumi, I don't know if you've ever cared. But I need to tell you this before I leave. I love you. I don't know if you return my feelings but I wanted you to know before I left and I wanted to give you this."

He stood behind her, waiting for her to acknowledge him but she didn't, she just looked at the ground, trying to control her emotions.

She heard him sigh and walk towards the door and she turned to stop him, but he was already gone.

And on the floor was his headband.

Megumi picked it up and twined it around trembling fingers.

She suddenly wanted to run after him and catch him before he boarded the boat but she didn't.

She was too proud.

Megumi bit her lip as the last thought hit her like a slap. Her pride had cost her a lot in her life.

Maybe if she had told Sano she had loved him sooner, he would never have gone back to his home town. Maybe if she had told him, he would never have had to leave in the first place.

Megumi walked over to the large window that faced towards Tokyo and leaned her hot forehead against the wood, closing her eyes.

She began to scold herself in a soft voice, "Megumi, you're acting like a love sick child. Even if Sano is still alive, he's most likely already married to a woman who isn't too stubborn and proud to admit her feelings. He deserves better then a woman who killed people, including one of his friends."

As her voice dropped off, she remembered how it felt when he held her and winced at her traitorous mind.

"I don't care about him. In fact I never liked him." Megumi told herself, uttering the lies in an effort to convince herself she was telling the truth but it didn't work.

With a sigh of frustration, she slammed her cut palm onto the window ledge and winced at the pain. 'At least I can still feel it when I hurt myself,' she thought bitterly.

The sound of someone walking into the clinic disturbed her self-pitying thoughts.

'Who'd be coming here now?' she thought suddenly irritable, all she had wanted was to be left alone.

A sick feeling in her stomach rose as she remembered what had been happening to the other businesses in town. They had been robbed, and anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in the way was killed.

Her eyes darted around the room and she saw the knife on the table.

Stepping across the room, she grabbed it and held it in front of herself, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. 'I'm not going to die here!' she whispered to herself.

The creaking outside of the room distracted her and as she turned to face the threat, she didn't hear the main door to the room open, "Kitsune?"

Megumi screamed in surprise and whirled around, the knife dropping from her hand and clattering on the floor as she gaped at the person who had just come in, "Sano?" she managed to gasp.

In a minute Sano had crossed the room and grabbed her into a tight hug, "I told you I'd come back," he whispered into her hair.

Megumi could only nod as she clung to him, "I was so worried for you. You never wrote to me, and I never heard anything about you so I thought you'd died or was in trouble or the police had caught up with you." she finally released him just a little, "Isn't it dangerous for you to be here?"

Sano grinned, "Nope. Kenshin sent me a letter last year that the cops had stopped looking for me but I didn't receive it until a few months ago. I'm home now."

Sano released her and stepped back just a little, "You have no idea how much I missed you, Kitsune."

Megumi felt a smile pulling at her lips, "I think I might know how you felt," she admitted, closing the gap between them again, "Sano, before you left you told me you loved me. Do you still?" she whispered.

Sano shifted a little and suddenly looked nervous, "I still do…" his voice trailed off and Megumi felt her spirit drop as she waited for him to finish his sentence.

Sano nervously ran a hand through his hair, 'I've written this and done this a thousand times in my head, why can't I just say it?' he thought, clearing his throat. "I wanted to ask you this before I left, but I couldn't. Megumi, would you be my wife?"

Before Megumi could answer, he started talking again, "I don't have a lot to offer you but I got a job in Tokyo this morning and I'll take care of you. You might already be married or engaged, I don't know…" Megumi placed a finger on his lips to stop his rambling, "My answer is 'yes' Sano."

Sano pulled her into another hug and as he spoke of the future they could build together, she closed her eyes and leaned against him, feeling a part of her heart repairing itself.

Soon she would be moving back to Tokyo, she would have a husband, and she would finally be back with the people who had become her friends and people very dear to her.

Soon she would be back with her family.

Fin.