A Job for Sanosuke
Chapter 5 – Sanosuke, Waiter in Disguise
By Shirou Shinjin.
Disclaimer: I have not, do not, and most likely will never own Rurouni Kenshin, or its characters. They belong to various evil corporations, and the wonderful Watsuki-sama. I'm just going to borrow them for a bit, k?
Sano's usual bravado and sense of daring was immediately replaced with full-blown panic. Tae wanted him out there... but then Megumi would see... he'd never hear the end of the barbs from her... and her tongue was sharp enough as it was, thank you very much.
Sano's mind ceased to work rationally, and he suddenly had the idea of running out the back of the Akabeko, disappear down a darkened alley, and finding a nice remote forest to hide in for the rest of his life. Couldn't be that bad, all things considered.
Just then, Tsubame came around the corner to see what Tae wanted. Desperately, he grabbed her by the shoulders and calmly explained the situation. "Megumi's out there! What the hell am I going to do!"
Tsubame, getting over the shock of suddenly being grabbed by the brightly clothed man raised a small hand over her mouth. "Oh dear..."
"Yeah, no kidding. If I go out there, it's all over I tell you!"
"Hello? Anyone out there?" they heard Tae call again. Time was running short.
"What am I going to do..." Sano whispered miserably. He really didn't want to go out there, but to incur Tae's wrath now would just compound the problem. He hung his head in despair.
Meanwhile, Tsubame was intently studying Sano's hair. She carefully reached up, and tugged on one of the spikes, surprised to find it wasn't as hard as she would have expected. "Sanosuke-san," she asked quietly, "have you ever considered brushing your hair?"
The question caught Sano off guard, and he stared blankly at the girl for a moment. "No, not really."
Tsubame nodded to herself, then began dragging him hurriedly towards the rear exit. "Quick, this way." Not knowing what else to do, Sano followed. In a few moments, she had led him to the well in the back yard, and began hauling a bucket of water up. Sano reached down and took over the job, lifting the heavy bucket from the well's depths.
Once it was up, Sano leaned over forwards, hanging his head once again. "I don't see how a bucket of water is going to help," he added miserably.
"Sorry about this," Tsubame said softly. Sano was about to ask what she was sorry for when a bucket-load of fresh, freezing cold water was dumped over his head, drenching his hair, and matting it to his face.
Spluttering, he tried to lift his head up, only to find the small girl had already removed his bandanna, and was hard at work brushing his hair with a small comb she had produced from somewhere. Dumbfounded, he just stood there as Tsubame gave him an impromptu makeover.
Her job made easier by the particular style she had chosen, and the bucketful of water, Sano's hair was soon arranged, and she stepped back to inspect her work. Apparently satisfied, Tsubame tucked the comb into her obi, and motioned for him to look at his reflection in another nearby, and conspicuously full, bucket.
Gone were the trademark spikes, replaced instead by a haircut that looked vaguely like something captain Sagara would have worn. Half of his considerable mass of hair was draped over the right side of his face, obscuring it completely. The rest was hastily draped down the back of his head, just touching the top of his back.
He looked like a completely different person.
She'd never recognise him.
A grin slowly broke out on Sano's face as he took in his new hairstyle. "Quick thinking there, Tsubame-chan!"
Tsubame smiled happily.
"A little too quick," he said, pointing to the bucket of water that he had been checking his reflection in... a bucket full of warm water instead of freezing cold water.
Tsubame blushed slightly at her haste. Sano just laughed, and gave her a pat on the head, "don't sweat it; I think you just saved me."
As they walked back through the kitchen, Tsubame stopped him, and suddenly draped a nearby dishcloth over his bandaged right hand. "So it doesn't give you away," she explained.
Sano grinned, grabbed a notepad to take the orders, and strode out to face his destiny.
"Honestly, I don't know what's taking her so long... probably out the back with Yahiko," Tae giggled as she commented on the lack of the usually helpful service. "Maybe I should go see if anything's wrong..."
"Not to worry—looks like someone's coming, now."
"There you are Ts..." Tae turned in her seat to confront the latecomer, but instead stopped in mid-sentence as she took in the new-look Sano.
"I see you've hired some new help," Megumi noted, raising an eyebrow at him. "But did you really have to dress him up in pink?"
Tae wiped the look of shock from her face as she turned back to her friend. "Uh, yes. I was a... bit understaffed today."
"Can I take your orders, ladies?"
Tae's head whipped around again to make sure this person was actually Sano. He hadn't just changed his hairstyle, he was now being polite! He'd even dropped his voice an octave or two, making him sound older. It was like some charming, good-looking and refined man had come in, stuffed Sano into a cupboard somewhere and stolen his outfit.
Sano must have been desperate.
"I'm afraid I'm not staying long, so just a cup of tea for me, thank you," Megumi replied warmly to the nice gentleman in the horrible kimono.
"Aah, I'm alright, thanks," Tae replied in a somewhat unsure voice.
"Very good," Sano intoned, giving them a quick bow, and retreating out the back as fast as proprietary would allow.
"What a polite young man. Is he permanent?" Megumi asked Tae as she fiddled with something in her sleeves.
"Um, not really. I'm giving him a trial-run for today."
"How's that working out?"
Tae felt some of her wit recovering from the shock, and a smile spread over her face. "Not too sure. He may have to stay for a few more days before I decide..."
Tae could swear she heard a yelp come from the back.
And so, what started with one cup of tea soon turned into one of those marathon chatting sessions that women tend to get into. And each time he returned with more tea, or some onigiri or other snack for the women, Megumi would look at him closely... far too closely for Sano's comfort. Sano wasn't the only one that noticed.
"Megumi-san, why do you keep staring at the waiter?" Tae asked, as Sano was taking the order for an elderly gentleman in the booth behind them.
"It's the strangest thing... I get the feeling I know him, but I can't work out where from..."
"Hot pot, and some tea, please." Tae could almost hear Sano holding his breath as he tuned out everyone else around him (much to the annoyance of his customer.)
"Well," Tae said, "you see so many people every day, he could just be someone you once treated. He may even just look like someone you've treated."
"That's true... still..." Megumi said as she began tapping a nail against the table.
"I said, hot pot and some tea." Sano's now mildly aggravated customer repeated as Sano continued to ignore him.
Megumi snapped her fingers. "That's it—I know who it is!"
"Oh?" asked Tae, wondering if Sano was still remembering to breathe.
"He looks just like that Genko-san fellow who came in with that nasty rash!" Megumi exclaimed, pleased that she'd worked out the connection.
Sano's customer was now very aggravated. "HOT POT..."
"Yes, yes; right away..." Sano said, placating the customer, before mumbling, "impatient old fart," under his breath.
When he returned with the order, however, Megumi seemed to be brooding over something. Sano was just in time to see Tae lean over.
"What's wrong, Megumi-san?"
"Hmm? Oh nothing."
"Doesn't look like nothing..." Tae observed.
"Are you going to give that to me?" Sano's customer asked, pointing at the small sukiyaki pot.
Megumi sighed. "It's just... that idiot rooster head was supposed to come by today..."
"To have his hand checked?" Tae asked with a smile.
"Well, he didn't really specify, but why else would the idiot come to the clinic?" Megumi replied, then tried to avoid eye contact. Was that a look of... disappointment on the Kitsune's face?
"Are you listening to me? Hey!" Sano's customer had begun to poke him incessantly in the side to try to get his attention.
"What? Oh fine, here!" Sano harshly whispered, shoving the pot on to the table, then returning to his eavesdropping.
"You seem upset that he hasn't come to see you, Megumi-san..."
"What!" Megumi spluttered. "What makes you think I care if that rooster-headed free loader comes over to harass me or not?"
Sano was now sitting across from the elderly man he'd been serving, in an attempt to stay hidden. "Why are you still here?"
"I'm eavesdropping, now quiet."
"Come on," Tae coaxed, "no one's here; you can tell me."
Megumi seemed adamant about not saying anything, but Tae kept gently prodding. "It helps to talk about these things—get them out of your system."
"That's not very nice, you know," the old man pointed out as he took a loud slurp of tea.
"Who cares? Shhh!"
"I suppose... I mean, this is strictly between us, right?"
"I think I should tell them what you're doing."
"Look," Sano said in exasperation, digging into his pockets, "here's... 42 ryo."
The old man sighed. "Must be getting senile... talking to people who aren't there..."
"Absolutely," Tae said, nodding.
"Well..."
"Hold on a second. Excuse me," she said, turning around and tapping Sano on the shoulder. "Would you be so kind as to go get some tea and ohagi?" Busted. With as big a smile as he could muster, he got up and went off the find the tea and ohagi as fast as humanly possible.
"That's better—can't chat on a dry throat! Now, tell me all about it..."
A few minutes later, Megumi was waving goodbye to Tae and off down the street to the clinic. Sano, on the other hand, was sitting in the back room with Tsubame, just waiting to fume at Tae. Tsubame was munching on some onigiri. It wasn't long before Tae walked in with a large grin on her face.
"We don't have any ohagi here, do we?"
"No, not that I'm aware of. I had to get rid of you somehow."
Tsubame looked up at Sano, "I could have told you that, Sano-san."
Sano groaned. "Well why didn't you tell me then?"
"You didn't ask."
Sano scowled, and Tae just kept smiling.
"Nice hair by the way—very creative. I assume that was Tsubame's doing?" to which she received a happy smile from the young girl. "Although I must say, the manners suited you very nicely. You should try that more often, Sanosuke-han. The voice was a bit much, though..."
"I had to do something. What else did you expect me to do?"
"Well, you could have sent Tsubame out."
"Hey, you were the one that told me I was doing table five this morning!" Sano shot back.
"Actually, when you went to do the delivery, Tae-san put me on table five, Sano-san," Tsubame pointed out between bites of rice. Sano's eyes went as wide as sake saucers.
"But... but..." he stammered, "why didn't you tell me?" he asked, a certain hint of desperation kicking in.
"You didn't ask."
Sano sighed heavily.
Tae stifled a laugh.
"Now, now. Look at it this way, it's over. She didn't recognise you, and I didn't tell her a thing. So Tsubame, you finish off your snack, and then both of you back to work, ok?"
"Yeah, yeah..." Sano mumbled as Tae walked out of the room.
Tsubame quickly finished off her onigiri, then looked up at Sano as he was "fixing" his hair. A few stray strands flopped down over his face, as he fruitlessly tried to blow them away. Sano glanced down, and caught her smile, before both of them burst into laughter.
Yahiko chose this moment to make his reappearance. He seemed to have calmed down from his earlier bout of laughing. He eyed the two suspiciously. "What are you two laughing about?"
Sano and Tsubame quickly quelled their laughter, as Sano looked over and pointedly said, "nothing," before they walked out the front together.
Yahiko scratched his head for a minute, before deciding he didn't really care, and wandered off, looking for Tae.
The day slowly wore on, and Sano found he was becoming a little less self-conscious. Sure, he still hated the evil pink kimono, but after sharing a few laughs with Tsubame, he found it wasn't so bad once he got over his own hysterical reaction to it. Maybe what he needed was not blind panic, but serene, peaceful calm.
With the day winding down, and afternoon setting in, he figured he just had the dinner crowd to contend with, and then he'd be free.
"Sanosuke-han, I need you to go run a few errands in town," Tae said, coming up and handing him a list.
There goes serene and peaceful calm.
"Not again."
"Now don't be like that—I need you to go get some supplies from the market for tonight. I'm having a get-together with some friends, and want to make something special."
"Can't you send Yahiko?" Sano half asked, half whined. Then he looked at the size of the list. "Ok, guess not. Do I get to take a cart with me?"
"Oh you won't need a cart. Just do a few runs if you have to." Like hell. "And do hurry, I need to get started on this soon!" She gave him a cheerful wave, then went off to harass the other staff.
With a heavy sigh, Sano began making his way out the back. As he was pushing the gate aside, something from that morning came floating back into his mind.
"In that case, you can come to the markets with me to help me carry things back."
'Bah,' he thought. 'What are the chances they're still out there? Knowing those two, they probably finished hours ago...'
With that, he hurried on his way to the market.
"Kaoru-dono, are you ready to go to the market?" Kenshin asked, holding the buckets for the miso across his back.
"Sorry for making you wait, Kenshin," Kaoru replied as she hurriedly locked the gate behind her. They had been meaning to get the shopping done hours ago, but a man and his son had unexpectedly turned up, enquiring about lessons. Knowing her luck, they probably wouldn't end up joining, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity.
"That is quite alright, Kaoru-dono. Perhaps you will have a new student soon."
"I hope so, Kenshin. We'd better hurry to the market if we're going to get this done in time."
With that, they hurried on their way to the market.
Author's Rambling
Well, how about that. You didn't have to wait four months :P
This chapter was written in record time, and Author-chan was once again good enough to go nit-picking through it to clean it up a bit.
Now usually, when I've finished writing a new chapter, I will spend a few days just reading it over and over again, looking for mistakes; not to mention all the times I re-read the earlier parts as I'm writing. Since this chapter hasn't gotten as much scrutiny, feel free to point out any mistakes I've missed so I can fix them up.
Now, the next chapter is going to be interesting to write. Unlike the previous ones, chapter 6 is going to be much "busier". After all, they're going to be playing hide-and-seek in a busy Tokyo market.
Until then,
Ja, ne
–賜狼審神
23rd February, 2006
And just in case you haven't worked it out, try singing the title to the tune of "Transformers, Robots in Disguise!" (evil grin)
Special Thanks
As always, to Author-chan for being my beta. Oh, and everyone who suck around and waited for this long-overdue update.
