Chapter 9
Megumi woke, opened her eyes, and closed them once more.
She could feel the day's light on her skin, and knew instinctively knew that she'd been asleep for a rather long time. She shifted upright and folded her legs into her habitual meditative pose, breathing deeply and tenting her fingers in her lap.
Breathe in; hold; release.
Repeat.
Meditation had been one of Megumi's constants since meeting the Captain. It had been Shimuzi actually that had suggested it to Megumi, on the day that marked exactly two years since they made that deal. It had been a rough day, full of something so stifling inside of her that she had felt perhaps she'd never be able to recover. Her emotions had been twisted, far from perfect; she was angry, hurt, and in that moment she hated Toga. She hated that he could abandon her. She hated that he could possibly forget her.
For the first time in a very long, long time, Megumi had wept. She had curled in on herself and soaked her bedding, sobbing out everything she had kept inside of her those past two years while she waited - hoped - that Toga would find her and take her home. She had wanted to scream, and she figured she might have, had the Captain not known what that day meant to her.
"Megumi," Shimuzi called out, coming into the storage room she'd hidden herself in. Megumi worked quickly to cease her sniffles and banish any evidence of what she had been doing in the moments prior.
"Hai, Captain?" Her voice came out strained and raw but she pretended it hadn't and hoped the Captain would do the same.
"Megumi," she started again, coming over and crouching down by her. "I've been watching you these past two years. I know how much you must care for that home you found." The Captain loosely crossed her arms, looking to the side and sighing softly. "I want you to know that I won't hold you to our deal, Megumi. I won't force you to abandon something precious to you. But I want you to know that if you choose to stay, with the crew - with me - then I promise that I'll make this place somewhere that can be just as precious if you choose."
Megumi shuddered, and remained silent for several minutes. She couldn't bring herself to look at the Captain; it felt like such a monumental thing to do that she instead focused on the boxes that had been shoved into the corner.
It seemed like hours had passed before Megumi finally said, "Are you sure you can?" When she dared glance up to steal a look at the Captain, the youkai's expression was full of so much confidence that Megumi quickly turned away. " Can you make this place precious, I mean?"
"You're going to stay?" Captain asked, in that low tone that really said, 'are you sure?'
Megumi nodded. "I . . . I promised."
Captain stayed silent for a little bit longer, before a slow smile fixed itself on her face in the same way that a gentle caress might. "Alright. Then stay with me as long as you want, Megumi."
"Meg," she interjected, feeling a tiny flush of embarrassment heat her cheeks. "You can call me Meg, if you'd like. The people most precious to me do."
Captain's hand reached out to ruffle the girl's hair before she offered her hand to help Megumi stand up. "I want you to try meditating with me," she told her once Megumi had taken the proffered limb and stood up. "It's like . . . the opposite of a scream. I think it'll suit you better when times get tough."
Red, puffy eyes stared back into the calm sea green ones of the older woman. Her expression in that moment was something of the purest form of caring and devotion, and she ached to the very center of herself when she thought how closely it reminded her of that look Toga always had.
" . . . I can try that, Captain."
Now, as Megumi sat alone in what she assumed was her temporary room in the shiro, she meditated not to center her emotions but to gauge her power levels. She was mildly alarmed (though not surprised) to find that they were dangerously, dangerously low. While she had half anticipated it, she wasn't exactly brimming with excitement when she contemplated how many days and how many meals would be required to bring her back up to a safer level of functionality. Megumi sighed audibly as she broke her form, pushing back the covers and getting up completely.
She allowed herself the leisure of mapping out the room; taking note of where all the doors were and how many steps apart everything was. She did this while absently fingering the garments she was currently in. They were soft, of a quality Megumi had not had the chance to indulge in since she was what, two centuries old? She wished she could have seen the colors that had been chosen for her - a tiny smile broke onto her face at the thought; she had no doubt that Toga's son would have ensured that only someone with decent taste selected the wardrobe for the shiro's guest.
She tied the sash around her and ventured back towards one of the doors that had smelled suspiciously like greenery, and practically hummed in delight when she discovered her room to be directly connected to a garden. Megumi told herself not to get out of hand with her exploring to ensure that she didn't get lost - shiros could be notoriously complicated, and that was when you could see where you were going - but despite her better judgement she found herself roaming to and fro, trying to see what sorts of plants she could identify by touch and smell alone and which she had never encountered before. It was only when some servant approached her, squeaking softly about something having been prepared for her to eat if Madarame-san could just follow me back to the room . . . and so Megumi did her damndest to listen to where the servant's steps led her, glad that the gardens weren't anything like the forest floors.
With the servant's assistance Megumi once again found herself in her room, situated in seiza in front of several trays that carried dishes whose scents assaulted Megumi's nose. Megumi let out a soft sigh of satisfaction as she allowed herself the simple pleasure of just breathing, basking in the feast her senses were treating her to even before she had tasted it. Megumi tried not to appear too eager as she reached for her chopsticks and dived in, letting her head tilt back slightly as she took in the first bite. The tiniest of unbidden groans of satisfaction slipped past her defenses as those smells that had teased her nose now hit her as flavors she rolled over her tongue. That settled it; Megumi was going to stay here in this place with its garden and its soft clothing and its decadent meals. Megumi was going to stay until Rin healed fully, until the seal was broken and she was going to appreciate every single moment of it.
Megumi was reluctant to see the meal finished, but that feeling soon evaporated when she was informed by a new servant that she would be escorted to the bath connected to her room to wash up and dress for the day (or what was left of it; apparently she'd slept all the way through the night and into the afternoon). Megumi was happy to let herself be led away, though she was sure she made a spectacle of herself for all that watched with how many times she'd insist they retrace their steps or walk along the walls so that Megumi could memorize the new rooms that connected with her main one. She was fairly sure she elicited huffs of amusement (or impatience?) from the servant that was stuck dealing with her, and each time she did Megumi grinned.
"What's your name?" she pried at one point when she had been helped into the bathroom. It smelled faintly of some of the more floral notes she had observed in the garden, and Megumi sighed in satisfaction as the servant poured the water over her back and on her hair.
"My name is Hina," came her toneless reply, and Megumi almost misheard her since she had chosen that moment to pour water over her head, letting it cascade over her ears.
"Hina," she sounded out, "will you be seeing to me during my stay here?"
The bowl she had been using to scoop and dump water was set down nearby with a little thump. A moment later, Hina's hands were touching Megumi's shoulder, holding a bar of soap to her skin before she started rubbing it against her. "Hai, Madarame-san. It would be an honor to attend to your needs while you remain here."
"Would it?" Megumi mused to herself absently as Hina rubbed her back and arms. Something about the lack of a response from Hina intrigued her, but Megumi opted for silence as she absorbed the information her remaining senses relayed to her. She breathed deeply, entering a less focused contemplative state as Hina worked around her. When the servant passed her once, the motion sent a clearer gust of whatever scent that soap carried straight to Megumi's nose. "Tell me, Hina, are you the one who picked out my clothes and soaps?"
Hina paused whatever she was doing momentarily before slowly returning to her task. "No, Madarame-san. I'm merely here to tend your bedding, and to help dress and bathe you."
"Hm," Megumi said, but offered no more as she returned once more to her thoughts. She figured she might have sounded a little like the inu she had traveled here with; the thought amused her, and she fancied she could understand the short response's appeal now. She would have to add it to her arsenal of uninformative answers - it was concise, firm and difficult to find something in it from which to build a tactical response.
Megumi liked it.
Hina washed away the soap, and bundled up Megumi's hair in her hands in order to lead her to a different area of the room. Frankly Megumi was elated to have the extra help; her hair weighed a ton when it was wet and if she was irritated enough the additional tugging on her scalp often made her tempted enough to take a knife to her locks and hack away at her hair until she couldn't run her fingers through it anymore.
When Megumi was thoroughly washed and dried, Hina paid special attention to Megumi's accursedly damp locks, attacking them in that impartial style of hers with a comb pointy enough to compel Megumi into an imitation of a statue for fear of piercing her skin against its teeth should she move suddenly. Hina was ruthless, and couldn't be prevailed upon for an ounce of sympathy even when Megumi winced at her insistence in yanking the tangles out of her hair. Megumi was faintly sure that Hina had been the one who caused the tangles in the first place by the way she had carelessly bunched up her hair, but Megumi just grit her teeth and let Hina do her worst.
When she finished Megumi found herself led back into one of the other rooms that connected to both the bath and the main room, and it was there that Megumi was dressed. She was adorned in layers of kimono, the colors and designs of which Hina would not tell her, and each layer of fabric rested on her shoulders like weights, grounding her in a way that Megumi found faintly comforting. Hina tightened her obiage, obi and obijime respectively in a way that made her conscious of every breath she drew in; the constriction bordering on uncomfortable but never problematically so.
"Hina," Megumi started, intent on mentioning the discomfort. "I - "
"Forgive me, Madarame-san," Hina interjected, "but I need to arrange your hair now." Without any fanfare the alarmingly determined servant had Megumi kneeling in seiza and had combs running through Megumi's now dried hair once more. Megumi had been too stunned at Hina's interjection to recover quick enough to finish asking her question, but as Hina switched from combs to fingers in order to start styling Megumi decided it wasn't that much of a deal. She waited patiently for the servant to finish with her hair so that Megumi could be on her way for the day. While Megumi waited, she decided that she liked Hina and her slightly distasteful care routine. Of course, she questioned her own decision when one particularly unpleasant yank ended in a sharp stab of pain.
Megumi had started to feel soreness building up in her legs and feet when Hina released her, declaring Megumi finished and ready for her appointments today.
"Appointments?" Megumi echoed curiously. Of course, she had realized that she wouldn't likely get dressed to such a degree (the exact level of the degree she wasn't sure, since she couldn't see what her kimono and hair looked like) if she wasn't to exit her room today.
"You are to check on Rin," Hina supplied, but said no more.
"You'll show me the way to her room?"
"Hai, Madarame-san."
Megumi let herself be led out past her room, noting how many steps they took in each direction over the wooden walkways until they turned. She wasn't surprised to learn that her room was almost next to Rin's. If there was anything she knew about the inu daiyoukai, it was that he seemed to have a sort of tunnel vision when it came to his ward - perhaps that young human woman was capable of holding all of his focus? A small part of Megumi wondered if the proud male had other afflictions besides Rin and his family.
Hina showed her to the door then left, her retreat void of any pause and Megumi had the faint suspicion that she hadn't inclined her head simply because Megumi couldn't see if she skipped the action. Hmm. Interesting. Megumi slid the door open, calling out softly into the space. "Rin? It's Megumi; I'm here to check up on you." For good measure she closed her eyes, just in case Rin didn't know she was blind yet. Megumi didn't want to startle the woman if she was currently engaged in something embarrassing, and she certainly didn't want a repeat of Kyo and that rock.
"Over here," came the reply, and Megumi assumed that was what Rin's voice sounded like. She stepped through into the room, turning and closing the screen behind her. As she did, Megumi tried to remember how many steps she had taken to where Rin's futon had been; it was likely taken out of the room by now since it was daytime, but that would at least get her to the center of the room. Silently Megumi thanked her sharp mind for blessing her with a decent memory as she made her way to the center of the room and knelt down. She'd wait for Rin to finish whatever she was doing before checking up on her. "I was told you'd see me when you woke," Rin started conversationally, and Megumi let an amused laugh ring out in the air around her.
"And here I am."
"You must have slept for a while," Rin said, and her voice carried something of a curious tint to it.
Megumi shrugged lightly, but didn't bother to look in the direction Rin's voice came from. "You were an exhausting case to tend to, I'm afraid; so I hope you'll forgive me for sleeping in."
She could hear soft footsteps approaching her, until they came to a stop close to her but not uncomfortably so. She heard the telling sounds of someone shifting to kneel on the floor coming from directly in front of her, before Rin's voice picked up again, this time carrying more of that curious tone of hers. "What do you mean?"
Megumi resisted the urge to rub the back of her neck. "The way my . . . healing usually works is it investigates the patient's body, and I supply a steady stream of power until it determines what needs to be done and then works separately from me. But when I went to start the process with you, wherever your mind had been forcefully relocated to pulled my consciousness into it as well." Megumi paused, but when Rin said nothing she figured she might need to elaborate. "Think of it this way: you were stuck at the bottom of a pit. If this were a normal case, I would have been able to simply throw my rope down into the pit and you could have climbed out yourself. But instead, I had to go down the rope into the pit to find you and drag you out with me."
Rin made a thoughtful noise in the back of her throat. "I remember feeling like I wasn't connected to my body. Is that what you mean?"
"Mostly, yes." Megumi inclined her head. "There are some curses and spells that can cause such a drastic detachment, but not many people are capable of such things. Which is why since I'm here, I'd like to ask if you remember seeing anyone else in that place with you."
"No."
"Are you sure?" Megumi pressed, leaning slightly forward as she did. "When I entered that space, I saw some emotionally charged memories. I'm assuming that those memories were sort of an anti-invader precaution; after all, we often use our strongest past experiences as reasons for our future conduct. But what was curious was the fact that I saw two people's memories."
Rin's voice came out a little tense, which Megumi figured was warranted if she thought some stranger had seen some of her most vulnerable moments. "Are you sure they were real?"
Megumi schooled her voice, aiming for calm and comfort. She extended her hands in an offer to Rin, and waited until she felt Rin's hands in hers. Megumi squeezed once, gently. "That depends on you. If I may ask - and you've no obligation to tell me anything you do not want to - but Rin, when you were much younger," and here Megumi lowered her voice to soften what she was saying, "were you attacked by wolves?"
She could feel the younger woman shudder through their connected hands, but that was the only sign that the memory for her was very real and very vivid. "I . . . yes. But Tenseiga saved me."
"Tenseiga?" Megumi echoed curiously, momentarily forgetting why she had asked about the memory in the first place.
Rin took her hands out of Megumi's. "Yes. It's a sword that defeats death. It . . . Tenseiga told Sesshomaru-sama to save me."
Megumi allowed a brief silence to roll over them as she processed the individual parts of what she had heard. A sword that defeats death. Sesshomaru-sama. Tenseiga, a sword, telling people what to do. She swallowed around the tightness that had suddenly formed in her throat. "Sesshomaru," she said, more to herself in an attempt to redirect her thoughts, "what a curious name." Megumi wasn't as surprised by the honorific sama, considering that he was likely Toga's son. And if Tenseiga was his sword, one that defied the end of life and told the inu to save Rin, then wouldn't that make the sword the same one that she had touched the night those youkai attacked? Wouldn't that make Tenseiga the sword Toga had left for his son?
"Sesshomaru-sama never told you his name?" Rin asked, sounding decidedly incredulous. The interruption severed the older woman from her current line of thought, and she smiled wryly.
"I assume he had some reason," she said dismissively. "But I'm not here to talk about him." Megumi shifted, making sure her back was straight and her expression serious once more. "If the memories I saw that belonged to you were real, then I can only assume that the ones belonging to the other person are too. I believe those memories belong to the person who did this to you, and if the mark on your forehead is any indication you are still connected to them despite having awoken. I can't investigate further until I've recovered more power, so until then I need you to remain alert to any sort of changes to your condition that you may detect. Can you do that for me, Rin?"
The woman in question was quiet for another moment. "I can do that," Rin told her, although her voice was a bit subdued.
Megumi wished (not for the first time) that she could study Rin's expression, but she'd have to make do with her voice alone. "Alright. Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to hear about how you've been feeling since waking."
Sesshomaru studied the healer as she listened to Rin's description of how she'd felt since waking up yesterday. She nodded occasionally, pausing Rin here and there to prod and ask questions before allowing Rin to continue. As she did, Sesshomaru allowed himself the time to unabashedly watch the woman. She looked different today, and he chalked it up to her manner of dress. Whoever had styled her had done well in choosing the shades of green and white that she wore on both her kimono and the hair ornament that had been tucked into a somewhat elaborate hairdo. He thought that level of elaborateness was probably a necessary minimum for someone who had as much hair as she did. Sesshomaru fought the urge to roll his eyes when he remembered her supposed reason for keeping it so long; something about a symbol and reminder of things she had long forgotten. He thought it was ridiculous. If you've forgotten, he had wanted to say, then why would you remember to keep it long? Her indirectness annoyed him.
He narrowed his eyes as he recalled an earlier moment, one that had transpired since she had entered this room. He had sensed her coming and had commanded his ward to make no mention that he was in the room, choosing instead to pick a vantage point in the corner to observe. And she had given him an interesting insight to both how her powers worked and how severe Rin's situation may be with that whole pit analogy of hers, but it had been that mention of another's memories that had his interest piqued. He would have to ask her what she had seen later; if he perhaps knew someone who had a past similar to what she described then perhaps he would know who had done this. Of course, that wasn't what he was currently mulling over. He was thinking about her reaction to Rin's admission of being saved by Tenseiga as well as her naming of who did it - Sesshomaru-sama - and the ever-perplexing woman hadn't batted an eye at any of what Rin had said.
He assumed some of her lack of a reaction could have been contributed to what she had already experienced and knew; she knew Rin was his ward, and had been contacted once by Tenseiga. It would make sense that she wasn't surprised to know he saved Rin then, and it certainly wouldn't have been a surprise to know that Tenseiga told him to do it. But she hadn't seemed surprised to hear that it defied death - what's more, she hadn't been surprised to hear the honorific Rin attached to his name.
Infuriating woman.
What had Tenseiga revealed to her?
"Rin," Sesshomaru barked out suddenly, and Megumi's head turned sharply to stare in his direction. "Megumi's time is required elsewhere."
"So you do know my name," the healer quipped before Rin could even open her mouth, and Sesshomaru glared lightly at the woman whose mouth was quirked up in a satisfied smirk. "I was beginning to think you and I weren't going to know each other any better, Sesshomaru."
"You are here for Rin," he told her, the natural rumbling in his chest almost rising to a growl. "Nothing more."
They stared at each other for a moment, Sesshomaru aware of the glances Rin was throwing his way. It was Megumi who moved first, shrugging lightly and tilting her head oh-so-slightly to the side. "I know. Now," she said, in a way that suggested she was completely changing the topic. She rose gracefully to her feet, smoothing the front of her kimono with her hands once before stilling them at her sides. "You said my time was required elsewhere?"
Sesshomaru inclined his head slightly, though remembered she couldn't see the gesture only after the fact. "You will follow This One," he said instead. Megumi pondered lightly before bowing her head to Rin and heading over to the corner where Sesshomaru was standing. He noted that though she walked without pause her steps were deliberately cautious, and he rationalized that she was trying to maintain her composure despite not knowing if there was anything in front of her.
He decided then that his earlier conduct would not do; at his shiro, there would be no leading this woman via his pelt and there certainly would be no telling her to figure it out on her own. Both images were highly detrimental, he thought. The first would undermine his personal image, and the second would undermine hers if she ever did stumble over something she couldn't see. He could of course get a servant to guide her until she felt confident that she knew her way around without aid, but at the moment they both had places to be and arriving late would not be in her best interest. She would, after all, be meeting the Lady of the West in order to solidify her stay here.
So Sesshomaru did what a master tactician like himself would: he selected the most optimal course of action, and when Megumi stopped near him he strode forward to meet her and placed his hand on the place between her shoulder blades, for once completely uncovered since her long tresses were pinned atop her head. When he looked down to make sure his hand's placement would not cause any wrinkling of the garment or other unsavory outcomes, his eyes caught the sight of a long-since healed scar peeking out from the hem of her kimono layers. It looked jagged, the kind of thing you could get when in a fight with someone.
They exited the room together and the daiyoukai led them towards the room where they would greet his mother. He had told Kimi yesterday, however, that the audience should not be conducted in her normal fashion with the many additional youkai in the room. Sesshomaru knew that regardless of his standing, many of the youkai of this shiro disliked humans (or things that looked like humans, in her case) and would be pleased to know that this one seemed to be blind and weak. The less that knew of her weakness until she memorized her way around the shiro and recovered her strength, the better. Sesshomaru knew he would not like it if Megumi had ground to tease his competence if she was threatened within his shiro.
"You are planning to tell me where we're going, right?" The woman shifted her head to glance at him before resetting her sights on the path in front of them.
"It is customary for guests to meet with those housing them," Sesshomaru supplied, omitting that she had technically already done that since meeting him. She didn't however make any sort of comment about his status as the shiro's Lord, though, which only further intrigued him - she wasn't surprised by Rin's honorific, but she didn't think he was the Lord of the shiro? Rather, upon hearing his answer her shoulders had gone rigid with momentary tension.
"I see," she said, then lapsed into silence. They didn't say anything else on their way towards Kimi's sitting room, and that left the inu daiyoukai plenty of time to ponder over who this woman thought she was about to see. When they reached the door he stopped her so that he could slide it open, and as he did his sensitive ears caught the sound of her releasing a shaky breath. It was all he could do to refrain from asking who she thought was on the other side of the door even as he knew he would find out soon enough.
Then he slid the door open and guided her through.
Megumi's breath hitched as Sesshomaru ruthlessly opened the door and escorted her through. She was barely conscious of what she was doing, only numbly noting somewhere in the back of her mind that Sesshomaru had directed her towards a different part of the room and had murmured something about being before a raised platform, and to bow accordingly when the Lady of the West arrived. Megumi swore her heart stopped beating at that.
Lady.
Of the West.
She was exactly where she both feared and hoped she'd be.
It felt like hours to her before she first heard the footsteps approaching from the direction of the platform she was facing. Megumi quickly lowered her head, terrified for a moment that her face had been seen before she had mentally prepared herself. Her heart hammered in her ears and for a moment she was overcome with the desire to run anywhere, just as long as she was away from here, but then she was mechanically raising her head and averting her sightless eyes, afraid of what she couldn't see and what the eyes looking to her would.
And then someone spoke.
"Meg?" Came a distinctly feminine voice, laced with surprise and something else Megumi couldn't place. "Meg, is that you?"
And then the voice registered, and Megumi's head snapped up and her mouth parted in awe. "Kimi?"
Then suddenly her nose was flooded with the scent of vanilla and rose, and there were strong arms around her, and suddenly Megumi was collapsing into an embrace she remembered from long, long ago.
"You're alive," Kimi breathed, and for all she was worth hugged her tighter. Megumi found she could hardly care. "Meg, what happened?" Kimi's last word was emphasized by two firm hands on her shoulders pushing herself away from Megumi probably so that she could lock eyes with her. Megumi felt a hot flush of embarrassment a second later, when Kimi gasped lightly. "Meg, you're blind."
She found herself sighing lightly as her head sunk a little. "It's a bit of a long story," Megumi told her as Kimi backed up and probably fixed herself a more comfortable seat on the platform, and she heard the Lady of the West talk to someone in lower terms, probably a servant Megumi couldn't see, about getting some tea to be brought.
"For you," Kimi stated once she finished talking to the servant, "I have more than enough time." While Megumi appreciated the sentiment, there was one thing about the current situation that Megumi found herself hesitating over. "I see," Kimi chuckled, and Megumi realized that she had actually started to turn and look at the one thing that was making her hesitate. She quickly turned away from what she had accidentally looked at to face Kimi. "Megumi, you can trust Sesshomaru."
Megumi found herself sighing. "He's your son, right?" She knew that she should be able to confide in Kimi even if he listened, and that that odd sense of honor he seemed to have would have him dying from defiance before he stooped to something as low as betraying someone's confidence. But still; this was her past. It was her most closely guarded secret, her source of vulnerabilities, something that she was terrified to reveal to people because of what could come of it.
Kimi made some sort of sound that seemed to confirm Megumi's question. "I've had the pleasure of knowing him for over nine hundred years now; and I can say with confidence that he would not dare upset his mother on a subject she was emotionally involved in." Kimi quieted when a door slid open, and Megumi listened as a servant set down things she assumed to be cups and other things down before leaving once more again. "You can trust him," she promised, and Megumi found herself nodding.
And then she stopped. "Kimi; nine hundred years?" Megumi's head tried to wrap around that number. "I'm only around eight hundred," she confessed, and her voice faltered for a second. "Has he . . . did he . . . Kimi, he's lived here all those centuries right?"
"Yes," was Kimi's reply, though she sounded confused for a moment. And then it must have clicked; Kimi gasped and set down whatever she had been holding. "You've forgotten him."
Megumi nodded. She was surprised, though, when Sesshomaru spoke up. "You're hiding something," he stated cleanly, but from the way his voice hit her she knew that he was looking at his mother and not her.
"I think it's time for Meg to tell us what's happened to her," Kimi said instead, and she heard Sesshomaru's trademark "Hn" right after.
Kimi pressed a cup of tea in Megumi's hands, and she took a quick drink to steel her nerves. And then she began.
"Toga and I went to my moon pool, to further activate my powers. It's hard for me to remember," Megumi admitted, rubbing the side of the cup. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry. "We must have encountered someone, and I remember - " here Megumi hesitated. She could tell Kimi, sure, but she would not tell Sesshomaru. How could she, when he carried that sword? Megumi chose to take a sip of the bitter tea to mask her hesitation. "I ended up using all of my powers, and I passed out. I'm sure it was a fight because when I woke up I had cuts and things bandaged all over me. I was found by a youkai woman who took me in. She was a Captain and I spent several centuries with her crew, sailing, training and learning to protect myself. There were some complications with the crew at one point but I managed alright. Eventually, I came back here." Megumi suddenly found herself drowning in anxiety. "Kimi," she started, and she knew her voice betrayed how vulnerable she felt in that moment. "The Captain and I made a deal; if for some reason no one found me in those first two years, I would stay with her. You, he - " Megumi swallowed, " - no one came, and eventually I had to come back. I had to know why. But I'm here, and so are you but . . . "
Megumi felt fear, dread and anxiety shoot through her. What would she learn, if she asked? Or worse, what would she never know?
"Kimi, please; where's Toga?"
Author's Note:
So, it had to come out eventually . . .
Please continue to read, and maybe leave a review or two? I'd appreciate the feedback!
