Author's Notes: The title of the chapter I got from the 50s song, Breaking up is so Hard to Do. The song isn't apart of the chapter, but it just fit.

REVIEW

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Rurouni Kenshin characters. I do own the idea to this story though, and I do hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've liked writing it. Warning: Swearing!

Chapter 4: Love that has been Hidden

:---:

'What am I doing? I have no clue who this is!' Megumi thought as she followed the riverbank.

'Oh come on. You know perfectly well who wrote that note! He didn't even try to disguise the writing. Idiot.'

It was almost 5:30, and she didn't have much farther to go, but she was stuck where she was. Well, not stuck exactly, she was pacing, and couldn't move forward, or go back.

'You can handle him Megumi. You're a Takani.'

'It's just that. He's just…he's just the man you love." Megumi thought, stomping her foot and slamming her fists against her thighs, adding a scream for good measure and returned to pacing once again.

:---:

'Where is she? Damn that Fox! I know she loves me, what's taking her so long. I didn't disguise my writing, she knows it me!' Sano said, pacing back and forth on the grass.

'Why doesn't she just forget her pride or fear and just come.' Sano thought, sitting down a few feet from the river.' Sano picked a blade of grass, and put it between his lips, making a whistle out of it, he tried a couple times getting it to make the right sound.

'What the hell?' Sano asked himself as he heard a scream a little ways away. Sano was up and running and in a few minutes saw who had screamed. He slowed down to a walk, watching the young woman pace.

"Megumi?" He asked.

"Sano!" Megumi said startled, turning around. "What are you doing here?"

"And you call me a baka."

"Oh. You heard me?" She questioned.

"Yes, it's not too far from here you know." Sano said. "Why where you pacing?"

"Oh, well…uh." Megumi started. 'Oh come on! It's just Sano. Tell him the truth.' "I couldn't go any further, but I couldn't turn back either." Megumi told him.

"Come on. We can eat as we talk about that." Sano said, turning and walking back to where he had been sitting a few minutes earlier. 'Couldn't go further, but couldn't turn back either, huh? Fox is a strange one. Looks like it was her fear, not her pride. How are you going to take that fear out of her? It was so apparent in her eyes, along with the surprise. Hadn't she known it was him who wrote that note?' Sano thought as he walked back to the spot he had picked.

It took her a few moments, but Megumi's heart started beating again, and she followed Sano. 'He's so carefree. He doesn't care what others think of him. No, Megumi, you know that isn't totally true. He does care what people think, but only the people he cares for. The others, those are the ones that he doesn't care what they think. She had known him for so long, had walked along the river so many times with him.' She thought as she watched Sano in front of her. He didn't have his uniform on now. Even with his white sweatshirt on she could see the lean muscles of his back and shoulders. The sweatshirt that he had worn almost everyday in his entire life, no matter how hot it got. He wore jeans and flip flops, simple, yet completely Sano. She was so used to him, why had she been scared? 'There's a grace in him. Strange to describe him like that, but there it is. Huh.' Megumi thought.

"Hey Sano!" Megumi yelled after him, "Remember the first time we walked this path?"

"Hm. Yeah I do." Sano said, turning his head towards the river with a smile on his face.

Five Years Ago…

They had been at the Cherry Blossom Festival with the others, Kenshin, Aoshi, Yahiko, Katsu, Tsubame, Kaoru and Misao that evening, and Sano had offered to walk her home, since they were going the same way. He had stopped, slipped off his sandals, rolled up his pants and waded into the water of the river that they were following to their homes.

"Come on Megumi! It'll be fun!" he yelled at her.

"Baka! It's only April! That water will be…" Megumi's sentence faded away as she heard Sano scream after getting into the cold water. "Baka Chicken Head! I told you! Come on, I'll help you out." Megumi said, holding out her hand.

"No thanks. It's getting pretty nice now." Sano replied, stretching his arms out and swimming to the middle of the river.

"Tori-atama, I told you so. I hate to say it but I told you not to go in didn't I?" Megumi said a few minutes later after fishing him out of the river quite a ways down stream. The current had quickly caught him in the middle of the river and she had to run to catch up with him.

"I know I know. Geez Kits, you don't have to tell me again." Sano said.

"I know it's been warm lately, but water doesn't warm that quickly!" She responded as they walked towards home.

"It wasn't that easy to forget. You always are telling 'I told you so'." Sano replied, stopping.

"You make it easy to tell you." Megumi said, coming to stand next to him.

"I suppose. I never did learn the first time someone told me. Kept trying and trying." Sano said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He felt her envelope there. When he had read it, he wasn't sure if it was real. A joke played on him by someone who had figured it out. None of their friends would do something so mean, but anyone in the school could have given to her to give to him. Then he looked at the writing, it was hers alright. His heart had nearly exploded out of his chest he was so happy. He hadn't stopped smiling all day. Until he had gotten here. The apprehension had dug in. Something he wasn't use to.

"You were another thing that I've had to be told over and over again about too."

"Me?" Megumi asked turning to Sano.

"Yeah. I don't know how many times someone has told me just to ask you out, how many times I've tried, and haven't. Or tried, having you say no, and tried again."

"What are you saying Sano?"

"Oh, nothing, you know me. Stubborn through and through. And hungry. Lets eat."

"Eat?" Megumi said, turning to where Sano had walked too.

"Yeah. Went to the Akabeko on my way here. Tae gave us some great food, and I'm starving!"

9th grade…

"Hey Kitsune!" Sano yelled after her. He hadn't planned for her to run away. 'Shit, where'd she go, shouldn't have run off like that, not in this part of the town!' Sano said to himself as he ran after her.

After a few minutes of running, he found her, she had gotten herself out of the bad part of town, and was a few blocks from her house, but it looked like trouble had followed her. "Hey! There you are!" Sano yelled, as he ran closer to the group of men that surrounded her. "You guys have a problem here?" He asked the men.

"Yeah, she didn't give us what we wanted." One asked.

"What was that?" He asked, now in the middle of the group with Megumi, pushing her behind him.

"Her purse. And maybe a little something extra." Another answered.

"I don't think so, see, she's my friend and I won't let anyone hurt her." Sano replied.

"Really? Well ain't that sweet. We got us a pair of lovebirds."

"Lovebirds? Hardly. She's got claws I wouldn't want in me." Sano replied with a smirk.

"So what are you gonna do about it? You're gonna have to fight to have us go away!"

"That's fine by me. Go run along home Kitsune." Sano said, pushing Megumi out of the circle. She didn't go very far though, around the corner, where she could still hear, but be there when the whole thing was done. He'd need to be patched up just like anytime he protected her or Kaoru or Misao. Kenshin, Yahiko, Sano, Aoshi, they all needed patched up once in awhile. She could hear the impacts of the punches, the sounds of bones cracking. After about fifteen minutes it stopped though. She carefully looked out around the corner of the building she was leaning against and saw Sano kneeling in the middle of the three men that had surrounded her.

"Sanosuke!" She yelled running for him.

"I thought I told you to go home. I meant it Megumi. If they had beat me they would have run after you and found you there. Next time I say go home, go home."

"Baka! You need medical attention for those cuts, come along, Dad might still be at the clinic, if not he'll be at home." Megumi said, helping Sano up, and supporting him on the couple of block walk to their house and medical clinic.

"Will you just hold still!"

"You should get your Dad to do this."

"He'll be here in a few minutes to handle the stitches, but he told me to take care of the small stuff. So be quiet and deal with it."

"Megumi?" Sano asked.

"Hm?"

"Thank you. You're the best. Your gonna make a great Doc someday." Megumi paused in wrapping Sano's fist that was bloody and torn apart with the punching that he had done.

"Well isn't that sweet. Megumi, dear?" Her father said, hearing the last of the sentence Sano had spoken. Megumi finished quickly and ran out of the clinic, to their home next door, to her bedroom.

"Sorry Takani-san."

"Oh nothing to worry about. Lets see, you need stitches over eye right?"

"I suppose. If that's what you say."

"Megumi, Sano's outside wanting to say thank you." Her father said outside of her door.

"Okay." Megumi said, opening her door and going down the steps.

"Sano?" Megumi asked, seeing him on the porch.

"Hey, thanks a lot. Your dad and you did a great job. He said I probably should stay home a few days. I'm a pretty gruesome sight I guess."

"It's not so bad." Megumi said looking up at him.

"Megumi. Let me ask you something. Won't you go out with me? Let me take you to the dance."

"No Sano. I'm sorry. I just like you as a friend."

"Then lets go as friends. No strings attach. Kenshin and Kaoru are going together, Aoshi and Misao also."

"No, I have to be here that day, helping Dad. I'm sorry." Megumi said, turning around and going back into the house.

"Sano?" Megumi asked, looking over at him. They had finished dinner and where sitting quietly, neither really wanting to talk yet.

"Hm? Whoa! You called me Sano. That doesn't happen often!"

"Baka or Chicken head didn't seem quite right at the time, but maybe it is the right name after all." Megumi shot back at him.

"Megs, I'm sorry, what was your question?" Looking over at her.

"What did you mean earlier? When you said you never gave up on me?"

"Oh that." Sano said. He had wanted to bring up over dinner, but they had had such a good time, just talking. It had been a long time since they had been serious with each other, guess now is the time. "I got your note today."

"You should have, I gave it to you."

"Well I read it the next class. Soon as I could. See, you had me curious. When I read it, well, I was surprised. You turned me down all of those times. I just figured, when I wrote my note inviting you here tonight, to try one last time, I'd be turned down again." Sano said, standing up and walking to a spot a few feet away from where she was sitting.

"Sano?"

"When I got your Valentine, I thought it was a joke at first, then as I re-read it, it was your writing, it was you in that note. I read it over and over, and then I thought, maybe I would actually get a chance." Sano looked back at her. She was sitting with her knees up to her chin, her head resting on them, her eyes closed. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful.

"You always got a Valentine from me. Always the Special One, as Misao told us. We started referring to them as that. You always got mine." Megumi said quietly, finally looking up at him. "Every time you asked me out, I said no, because I was afraid. I was afraid of the strength of the feelings I had for you. I would turn around, and as soon as I was alone, the tears would fall because I saw the hurt in your eyes, and I could feel it in my own. That's why I never looked at you. I would always look away because you could read me so well, I knew you would see it in my eyes as well."

"Meg."

"No Sano, not yet. Every time we fought, when ever we were done, I just wanted to run into your arms. I just couldn't though. It would show my weakness. Every time you got beaten to a pulp, I was there, not because I was your friend, and my father is a Doctor. I cared for you. I didn't want to see you get beaten up like that, especially when it was because of me. It tore me up inside. I love you Sanosuke. I have since I met you. Your strong, and brave and kind, and stubborn. You where everything that I wanted to be, to have. I wanted to have the strength you had, I wanted to be brave like you, I wanted to have your kindness, but I never could. It just wasn't me." Megumi looked up into Sano's eyes as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you to Kitsune. I always have. You don't have to have my strength, or kindness, you already have those, and if you don't have enough, I'll be there for you. To fight for you, to support you, everything. And you are brave. One of the bravest people I know." He said, kissing her sweetly on the forehead.

"Sano…" Megumi's head tilted up, and he saw tears in her eyes. She slowly came up on her knees and kissed him gently on the lips. "I love you so much. Here." Megumi put Sano's hand on her heart, so he could feel how fast it was beating.

"Megumi, I don't know what I would do with out you in my life. Your everything." Sano said, falling backwards, pulling her with him. They laid there for what seemed like forever, just staring at the stars, talking quietly.

"So how many did you get?" Sano asked her.

"How many what?"

"Love letters."

"One."

Sano smiled, pulling her closer into his embrace.

They each had only gotten one Love letter.

A tie.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Sano." Megumi said quietly. When she didn't receive a response, she looked up and saw him asleep. She brushed his bangs away from his face and slowly smiled, "Hai, I love you and you are everything to me as well." Megumi said, laying her head down and closing her eyes.