Kirikae

By lawless


Oguni Genzai came by the clinic every day for a fortnight. He conducted all manners of physical exams and asked all kinds of invasive personal questions, all in the name of science.

After the initial shock of their situation, both Sano and Megumi looked forward to these visits, convinced that the good doctor would eventually figure out a cure. But as day turned to night and night to day, and so on, their frustration grew. Naturally, they took their anger out on each other. This was, after all, a ground they were familiar with. But being forced in such close proximity for this long meant they had to deal with each other in a way they never had to before.

Always at the back of their minds was the fear that this could be permanent. That they would have to endure not just being in each other's bodies but being in each other's lives – literally – for a long, long while still.

This required a significant calibration of expectations.

"No way! You go to the public bath every day?!" Sano rounded on Megumi, his disbelief almost comical in its exaggeration.

They were making their way back from the bathhouse in the center of town. It was dusk and the sentou was a popular spot at this hour. In order to avoid the usual foot traffic, Sano led Megumi through a winding backroad that took them past a scattering of huts that later converged into Ruffian Row. A few louts, hanging out in shacks by the side of the road, whistled as they walked past and would have done more but one look at the woman's tall companion kept them in check. Megumi looked at them with barely concealed disgust and unconsciously moved closer to Sano, who noticed and grunted a word of reassurance.

All day, Megumi had been patiently acquainting Sano with the normal concerns of living her life, starting with the basics. "Bathing cleanses not just the body but also the mind and the soul," she told him. The logic was that if they were going to be stuck in each other's bodies, they might as well try to learn each other's routines.

"Fuzakenna!" Sano swore, earning Megumi's irate glare. Ignoring her reaction, he adjusted the scarf that Megumi taught him to wrap around his hair, and nearly tripped on his own two legs as his skirt twisted around them. He swore again but more under his breath so Megumi did not hear.

At Megumi's insistence, Sano was wearing Megumi's white yukata, the one she used for going to the sentou. The clothing was clean and crisp and without a wrinkle despite having travelled with Megumi all the way from Aizu. In contrast, Megumi was in a pair of ill-fitting jinbei borrowed from Dr. Genzai. At least, it was clean, she took comfort in the thought. She learned a while ago why she itched all the time; Sano's old clothes were rough and scratchy and needed a good washing, preferably with boiling water. ("Oi, kitsune-onna, ikkenai-ne!" "Watch me," Megumi only said as she dropped his gi into the scalding pot.)

"Mendokusai!" For Sano, who could only afford to take baths in rivers and streams, going to the sentou, paying yusen, and doing all the rituals of public bathing, was indeed a pain in the ass. And he was not going to shut up about it.

"Then maybe your mouth, more than your body, needs cleansing," Megumi finally snapped.

Sano only bared his teeth in response. With his blood red lips (Megumi had taught him how to apply rouge), he looked positively feral.

"I don't swear like that, you know."

"No? Better start learning then, temee."

"Are you going to be offensive all day?" Megumi had had it. Sano had been acting unusually grumpy and she was pretty sure she wasn't annoying him on purpose. Which was doubly exasperating for her. She didn't know what she said or did to earn such treatment. Only that he started on this mood when he found out the sentou she'd chosen was unisex. ("It's the closest to the clinic!" She rationalized, adding, "Why are you being so obstinate about this?")

She looked up and saw that they were within sight of the Oguni Clinic at least. Sano was lagging a little behind her, unable to keep up with her longer strides. He looked pissed off about that. She waited for him by the wagoya, intending to give him a piece of her mind but he beat her to it.

"Nanika mondai desu ka?" (What the hell's your problem?)

"Nothing, except that I think you go out of your way trying to be as rude as possible –"

"Rude? You thought that was rude?" Sano let out a mirthless laugh. He whipped off his scarf, letting the long, damp tresses fall in a mess around his shoulders.

Megumi threw up her hands. "That's going to be so troublesome to untangle," she said.

Sano grabbed a bunch of hair from his head and held it up. "Kechi da to kami ga nobiru no ga hayai tte hontou?" (Is it true that your hair grows faster if you're mean?)

What? "Damare." Who the hell was he calling mean? She wasn't mean. At least, she wasn't trying to be. "And what do you have against my hair?!" She raised her tone as Sano stalked past her.

He pushed open the fusuma that served as entrance to the clinic. At the genkan, he chucked off his pair of geta, barely pausing to position them so that they faced the outside, before stepping onto the tatami floor. Megumi was right at his heels, nearly bumping into him when he suddenly turned around.

Sano blinked up at her as though surprised to find Megumi standing so close.

For her part, Megumi was not used to being suddenly a head taller. She looked down at the pale oval face, at the messy hair, the slender neck that seemed to flow and disappear under the neckline of the yukata that had gone slightly askew to one side, revealing an expanse of pale skin…. She swallowed, realizing with horror that she was blushing.

"That's just great for you, isn't it?" Sano said, his voice sounding strange before he cleared his throat. His back was turned to her so she couldn't see his expression. "Teaching me about hair and clothes and bathing and shit," he went on. "What will you do when my old rivals find you? When you get into a fight? Kuso, can you even throw a punch?"

Megumi opened her mouth but no words came out. He had a point.

"Chikushou, you're Zanza!" Sano exhaled in frustration.

"And you're- you're Takani-sensei!" Megumi retorted but knew it was a weak argument. Sano led a…rough life, to tell it bluntly. How could she, Megumi, expect to live it in his body? How could she survive? She could barely even go through a day without getting assaulted and manhandled by Zanza's friends, let alone his enemies?

Sano sent her a withering stare, taking this opportunity to survey her - the too-neat clothes, the too-neat hair, the too-neat face - and decided. "You're gonna have to learn how to fight."


Tbc


AN Well, hello. I'm still alive and writing again. I don't know if anyone is still going to read this but here we are. Have all of y'all moved to AO3? I mean, I don't blame you. But I think I'll keep this account probably until ff finally implodes.

Now on to our translations:

sentou - public bath

fuzakenna - no fucking way

jinbei - short-sleeved clothing paired with short pants

ikkenai-ne - don't touch that

mendokusai - what a pain in the ass

yusen - what people pay to use the public bath

temee - rude way of saying "you"

wagoya - wooden pillar

fusuma - sliding door

genkan - foyer where the Japanese remove their shoes before entering

Nanika mondai desu ka? - What the hell's your problem?

Kechi da to kami ga nobiru no ga hayai tte hontou? - Is it true that your hair grows faster if you're mean? (Sano is being insulting here. Actually, when he's speaking Japanese, expect it to be rude Japanese)

Damare - shut up