Full Circle:
oo
Kaoru breathed deeply in the safety of her room. Somewhere there was a god that didn't totally hate her; she was able to steal back into the house relatively undetected. Well, Kenshin wasn't around, thank-aforementioned-god.
She now rested with a head that was clear and ringing with the fresh perspective of the lady doctor. She was enjoying the solitude.
This was mostly due to the fact she couldn't face Kenshin for a good hour at least.
Although decidedly less skittish, she was in no way ready for a visitor. Therefore when she heard the door slide open and saw spiked hair poke through the threshold she had no doubt been unreceptive.
"Sanosuke you idiot, get out!"
"Hey, I know Kenshin probably screwd up, but what'd I do to you?"
"Kenshin didn't do anything," she said a little too dismissively.
"He certainly didn't beat himself up."
Left without a comeback she resorted to pointedly directing her gaze anywhere but his direction.
"What happened, Jou-chan? I don't need an explanation but Kenshin sure does."
Kaoru thought about it, certainly getting Sano to pass it on to Kenshin would be easier. She actually might be able to avoid Kenshin for a day or two.
Then again, she was certainly worse at lying to Sano. Ever tactless, Sano would point out her discrepancies, Kenshin would just let it drop and flash the rurouni smile.
This was between her and Kenshin, involving Sano was tempting, but not really appropriate.
She turned to Sano and said in what she thought was a relatively gracious manner, "You're right. Could you please ask Kenshin to come in here?"
Mildly disappointed he would be left out of the loop but determining he could always eavesdrop if necessary, Sano shrugged and ducked into the hall.
Kaoru was left to wait, her panic increasing as she heard footsteps in the hall and saw Kenshin quietly enter the room.
Her hurried voice quickly permeated the silence, "Mou Kenshin, I am so sorry! I wasn't really thinking."
It seemed like Kaoru was making a day out of attacking innocent people.
Kenshin smiled, "It's alright Kaoru-dono. This one is not injured. What was so upsetting?"
Kaoru lied easily. "Well, you see, I tripped getting tofu and thought that if you had gone to get it like you usually do, I wouldn't have gotten my clothes dirty- silly right?"
'Cue rurouni smile,' she thought smugly.
"This one did not think your clothes were dirty, or that you would be angered over something so trivial," Kenshin replied.
'You've GOT to be kidding me,' she groaned inwardly, 'leave it to today for Kenshin to wise up.'
Kaoru tried to act unassuming and searched wildly for an explanation. She could always chock it up to PMS, but that would be opening up a can of worms considering Sano and Yahiko were probably right outside the door.
She just couldn't tell him that random marketplace people had her pegged as his woman and she was doomed to be single forever. He already felt enough guilt.
Kaoru felt mildly annoyed. She'd had a long day and just didn't have the energy to coddle Kenshin. Why was she the one being cornered?
All the tension instantly returned-- so much for tranquility.
She would no longer hold this issue against him, she resolved. No use punishing him for something he knew nothing about and she was unwilling to explain.
However, a part of her wanted this last stand. It was a final chance to give Kenshin some emotional anguish and let out some feelings that normally went unexpressed.
She thought of it as payback-- payback for the torture she received every time there was an occasion for a connection with Kenshin that remained just an unfulfilled opportunity.
Sure, only she understood the terms, but it was payback nonetheless.
She and Kenshin would talk eventually, she knew. She would resolve that without giving too much away and life would continue as usual.
She would always have this moment, however, something to look back on with satisfaction and-- she was feeling a little reckless.
She knew it was cold but in that moment she didn't care. She moved past Kenshin, slid open the door completely ignoring Sano and Yahiko who looked rather sheepish, turned her head toward Kenshin and deadpanned, "I think I'll go finish the laundry--those clothes won't wash themselves you know."
oo
All in all, Sano found the confrontation to be disparagingly anticlimactic. Perhaps if he had he witnessed the earlier display he might have better grasped Kaoru's pertinent choice of words. However, as usual, he was not altogether informed."Since when is Kaoru so into laundry?" Yahiko asked as soon as she was out of earshot.
Sano smacked his forehead. At least he wasn't as lost as the kid.
"They're talking about more than laundry," he muttered and entered the room Kaoru had just dramatically exited. Now that the conflict had dissipated there was really no reason to stick around.
Kenshin --apart from looking slightly dazed-- seemed alright and, after sharing a few minutes of reassuring dialogue in which such phrases as "-She'll come around-" and "-It'll blow over-" were thrown around, none of which Sano thought Kenshin actually absorbed, he came to his point.
"Listen, I'm gonna head out, I have some unfinished...business." Sano hesitated to call it anything but chaos.
Kenshin nodded, lost in thought, and the pair drifted into the hall. He slid the door closed behind them.
Sano waved and set off. Yahiko made a face at his back. Kenshin didn't even notice. Even at the gate the distinct sound of fabric being scrubbed to pieces drifted from around the house.
ooo
Sano arrived at the clinic and slid in the door quietly. After some brief navigation he turned into a room and found the individual he was looking for.
"So what's the plan, Doctor Gensai?"
The older man looked up from his file and smiled genially. After he had realized what had happened to Sano, he had taken pity on him and extended his services. Together, they resolved, Megumi would get hers.
Independently, Doctor Gensai resolved, they would get together.
"What you do is up to you, I can only tell you where she is so you can plan accordingly," he lips quirked when he recalled the earlier incident.
Sano glowered but chose to remain silent.
"You can corner her in the supply room, I had her take inventory." He then smiled in a way that was not altogether genial and not at all that far from devious.
Sano scratched the back of his head nervously and ducked his tall frame out of the doorway. Now where was the supply room again?
Megumi had dragged him there once for more bandages on one of the occasions when his hand necessitated it.
She had worn a blue kimono. When she was rummaging for something on the shelf he had noticed that it was lined with some kind of flower on the sleeve. When he had remarked that it was pretty she looked down quickly, grabbed a bandage at random, and backed quickly out of the room.
She had doctored his hand with a head wrap.
He saw the crack of light from the room and a shadow moving beyond the door. Sano attempted to make a plan of action for approximately five seconds before becoming frustrated, stalking up to the door, throwing it open, and closing them both inside.
Sano mildly berated himself for reminiscing about details of her clothing and overlooking the dimensions of the room.
Ah yes, the supply room was a rather- confined- space. They probably should call it the supply closet. In short there was now all of six inches between them at most.
Sano sincerely regretted cutting his strategy session short.
"So...how's inventory?"
A/N:
R&R darnit, I'd like to meet the moron who said you get more flies with honey than vinegar...