Author's Note: hello everyone. A thousand and one apologies for keeping everyone waiting… argh! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Yeah. Here's the revised version of chapter two 'cuz the older version's obviously sh-tty… people please read it anyway 'cuz there's a new character I'm adding in. woota.

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Here Without You

Chapter Two: Loner in Aizu

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The sky grew darker, as one by one the townsfolk packed up and left for their homes. Gradually, the number of patients dwindled until Takani Megumi was the only one remaining in the clinic.

Megumi locked up the clinic and made her way home to the tiny apartment she rented. There she would go in as quietly as she could, sometimes even tip-toeing, to avoid disturbing her neighbours.

As usual, the woman known to many as Dr Takani walked down the same lane to the same silent house where she lived alone. Many wondered what an attractive, aspiring lady such as herself was doing by herself without a family of her own.

Megumi knew why: fate would deny her to have the privilege of having someone to look after, someone who would remain by her side through all the seasons of spring through winter.

But it wasn't always this way. Some time ago, back in Tokyo, where she still treated ailments under the guidance of Dr Gensai, she would always be accompanied by his granddaughters who would tail her like two kittens hungry for milk. Or, when she knocked off really late, there would be someone waiting to take her home, to watch out for her and make sure she was safe, to protect her-

Sagara Sanosuke.

He had always waited up for her, even though it meant giving up his sleep and her having to listen to his complaints about her working late and not getting enough proper rest.

He always came for her, right from the very beginning.

But that was in the past now, a façade of history that continued to linger in the dark corner of her mind.

Often, many a neighbour would gossip to their friend and ask the same question over and over: Why was a single woman staying in a rented apartment all by herself? Didn't a doctor of the most prestigious family deserve a thousand palaces and more?

The answer, if anyone had bothered to ask the doctor personally and if she was willing to answer it, was simple: she had no family left. No one to go to, no home to return to.

Megumi had returned to Aizu in hopes of finding her family whom she had lost at an early age, with a prayer uttered to the one above to help her find them. After all, as Kenshin had once said to her, maybe they were actually separated and were looking for the missing relative of theirs as well.

But it turned out that they really were dead. She had even visited the tombstones which marked their final resting place.

After that she decided to move in alone. Every night when it was very late and the bright stars looked down upon a freezing, empty landscape, the lone woman would find her way home…

To an empty space. Not just in her house, but worse, in her own heart.

Which she once filled with… many close ones.

Many a night, she awoke to find her pillow soaked with tears, her face streaked, her vision blurred, as she struggled to make out where she was.

Such is the way that loneliness gets to individuals.

At first, she cried over realizing that her family's deaths were a reality and not a nightmare. To know for sure that your loved ones are forever gone, to have a hope that is crushed, to wake up from that blissful dream of fantasies…

Then, as the facts began to sink in, she remembered that fateful night when she and Sanosuke had broken up after their bitter argument. How she wished… how she wished she could turn back time so she could amend that mistake, to take those words back.

So maybe there might be someone to take her home every night.

And much more…

…

The lady doctor stared up at the tall man who had just saved her right in front of Kanryuu's mansion.

Was he mad? She wondered. How did he even dare to take down one of Shinomore Aoshi's men right in front of his mansion when he could be watching for all they knew?

Why did he even bother to come after her?

…

Megumi fingered the dagger in her hands, her delicate fingers slowly gracing the cold-edged blade.

How nice if she could end her life right now… maybe that would make up for the lives taken by her deadly opium. And… she need not face Sanosuke anymore…

She was about to plunge it right into her heart when suddenly…

"You fool!" It was Sanosuke. His angry gaze penetrated right through her as he glared at the dagger which had pierced his hand instead of herself. Kenshin and Yahiko just laid their lives on the line for you! You wanna throw all that away?"

Sanosuke…?

"Sorry to have kept you waiting," Kenshin apologized, smiling politely.

Why did he even come for her… when she didn't even deserve to be fetched to the gates of hell for her crimes?

…

Megumi was so genuinely wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice two dark forms in the shadows headed straight toward her.

"Oof! Gomen nasai, I didn't see you…" she murmured softly, attempting to brush past them.

"Not so fast," the one on her left held out one beefy arm to block her path, preventing her from leaving. Megumi grimaced; the stale smell of beer had hit her. He had obviously been drinking with his buddy.

"Yeah, you're pretty rude, aren't you, lady?" sneered the other one, leering right at her. The lady doctor glared at him; he was definitely standing way too close to her for comfort.

"Waddaya say we take her and teach her some manners?" the first one asked, his speech slurred as the alcohol took effect.

"I don't think so."

The pair turned round to face the speaker, who was a tall, well-built man who appeared to be in his thirties. He wore a brown western suit and a pair of spectacles. In his hand, he held a briefcase that contained some important document or other.

"Whaddiya say?" glowered the drunk brute.

"That's no proper way to treat a young lady," the new-comer went on, as if he was the one giving them a crash course on social graces. "And I'm sure that she does not wish to have your undesirable selves trust into her company."

"Take that back!" the still sober one yelled, raising a fist at him.

The "gentleman" as Megumi would have liked to call him dodged the blow, gripping his wrist like a vice. He held it tightly, his knuckles turning white with the force he used.

"I won't." he stated. "Now go if you want to keep your four limbs."

The men glowered at him, contemplating what to do next, but after a moment they gave in and turned tail.

"And go easy on the booze if you want to keep your liver." He called after them. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Airgato gozaimasu." Megumi thanked him.

"How far is your home? Shall I walk you back?" he asked

"Actually, it's not really far off from here. I think I can manage thanks anyway." Megumi replied, and then quickly hurried off before he could say anything else."

…

The next day, Megumi hurried into the clinic where she worked with a stern but skilled doctor named Dr Fuji. He was a little older than Dr Gensai, but he was the exact opposite of her old mentor.

By the time she arrived at the main office where she reported to him every morning ever since she began working under him, Dr Fuji was already speaking to someone else in the office.

Probably some new doctor who just got transferred here… Megumi remarked to herself as she waited for Dr. Fuji to finish his conversation.

"Ah, Dr. Takani." Dr. Fuji said, taking notice of her after a while. "Just the person I wanted. This is my nephew, Hiroshi Fuji."

Megumi's eyes widened in surprise as she recognized him from the previous night. Apparently it was the same for Dr. Fuji's nephew, for he was silenced and did not say anything.

"You two know each other-?" Dr. Fuji asked.

"We ran into each other last night." Megumi cut in quickly. She was not particularly keen on Dr. Fuji knowing anything about her run-in with two drunkards on her way home.

Dr. Fuji nodded. "I see." He said. "Well, Hiro here just came back from America where he was researching on medical science and has brought his knowledge back to Japan. He'll be working in Tokyo next and after hearing that you used to live there, he insisted on taking you with him so you could be his guide, of sorts, and take him around the area so he can get acquainted."

Megumi nodded. "H-hai," she stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"You will leave with him in about a months' time. When you get there, you will be working with him at Dr. Gensai's clinic, where you apprenticed for some time before coming here."

The lady doctor looked up at him. Go back to where she had started out?

At Tokyo?

The very place she left because she didn't want to be in the same place where their heartbreaking split had taken place?

So… she was going back, after all.

It was inevitable that she return to that place.

…

Sanosuke winced a little as she put the finishing touches of the bandage on his fist.

"Gee thanks Hui, I owe you one." He told the girl.

"Sanosuke, how did you get all that splinters in your hand again?" Hui asked, half-questioningly, half-reprimadingly. "Did you go fighting again?"

"Aww jeez, stop nagging Hui!" Sanosuke grumbled, getting up.

"Sanosuke! Come back here you!" Hui yelled after him.

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Author's Note: WHO IS SHE? DON'T STOP READING TILL THE END!

By the way, the Chinese pronnounciation for Megumi's name is "Hui". Ehehheheh. And no they're two different people btw.