She gave him a sidelong glance at breakfast the next morning.
But the minute he turned his chocolate brown eyes onto her, she immediately ducked her head, hiding her eyes behind the curtain of her long, raven hair.
The little missie asked her once if she was feeling alright. She smiled brightly and assured her that she was only tired from poor sleep the previous night and this piqued his interest even more.
Poor sleep, huh? Wonder what had her awake all night; maybe a patient?
As if reading his thoughts, Kenshin commented on how he admired her devotion to her patients, no matter what time of day or night they needed her.
Megumi smiled but shook her head. "Well thank you, Sir Ken but shockingly, last night was not one of those nights; I just had a lot on my mind I suppose and just couldn't sleep."
Sano grinned to himself and piped up. "Ohh yeah! Must've been an awfully long night for ya, considering you had—"
A swift and painful kick to his shin from underneath the table, silenced the wild-haired ex-fighter and he could only bite down on his tongue and turn a dark glare in Megumi's direction who was 'innocently' smiling and chattering away to Karou about the upcoming Lover's Festival.
Recovering from his painful punishment, Sanouske finished the last bit of his rice pudding and stood to his feet. He stretched his tall, lean 6'1 inches frame and shoved his hands into his pockets. Well with the festival only three days away, looks like Kenshin and I have some shopping to do; this place is lookin' a bit shabby and we should dress it up a bit! Com'on Kenshin, let's leave the little missie and Fox lady to the cleaning."
Before Kenshin even had the chance to stand, Sano had him by the color of his kimono and was dragging him behind him, out the shoji. Kenshin's eyes widened as he stumbled after Sano, uttering several amusing expressions, "Oyiiiiiiiii!"
Karou and Megumi only shook their heads, laughing at the sight of the Rooster head, dragging the read-headed former-batoussai behind him, muttering, "com'on Kenshin, I'm not you're mule, ya know; jeeze you were the batoussai, a legendary swordsmen, pick up the pace will ya?!"
"Those two—they're the craziest pair I've ever seen. But everyone knows they'd lay down their lives for each other in a moment." Megumi mused out loud, receiving a nod from Karou.
"They really are inseparable aren't they? I don't think I've ever seen Sanouske quite so devoted to anyone like he is to Kenshin. He idolizes him but at the same time, Kenshin admires Sano in more ways than I think Sano realizes; Kenshin sees something in him that I think he envies."
Megumi scoffed playfully, turning sparkling eyes to Karou. "You honestly think that Sir Ken is envious of Sanouske Sagra of all people? Whatever would give you that idea, Karou?"
"Well look at them; Sanouske is reckless, carefree and has the ability to form bonds and realationships with whomever he chooses, he doesn't seem to have much of a care in the world. Whereas Kenshin is constantly looking over his shoulder, wondering how many more moments of peace he'll have before the next enemy comes seeking his life. And because of that, He knows that anyone connected to him will inevitably end up in the path of harm and I think that's why he's always so careful of how close he allows himself to become to people. Even with us, I sense that he won't go beyond a certain point—he feels that he can't afford to let himself completely open up and let anyone in, for fear of putting them in danger. …at times, I think that maybe that's why I—I can't seem to be able to tell how he really feels…"
"Seriously Karou—anyone with eyes can see how Kenshin feels about you!"
Karou's eyes snapped to Megumi's. "Oh! No Miss Megumi I didn't mean—I wasn't trying to imply that—"
Megumi waved her off. "Oh don't even try to play that game with me, Miss Karou, I can see through it plain as day; everyone can. You have extremely strong feelings for Sir Ken but you just refuse to let yourself feel them or express them! You think you're doing the noble thing by keeping it a secret from him but believe me, you're only hurting the both of you! Sir Ken's protective and loyal nature to his friends is heart-warming and his willingness to sacrifice himself at any moment is admirable but—it's foolish too! How is a life of courage and sacrifice worth living if you don't have someone to live it for? To have the will to live if it's only for yourself, that's really not living at all—it's merely surviving. And the same goes for you, Miss Karou. If you're only living to keep yourself at arm's length from anyone who could love you, how is that really living? What's the point of fighting for truth, honor and love if there's no one that you're sharing it with?"
Karou hung on every word Megumi spoke and the truth of it washed over her in waves as she realized that she and Kenshin had both been acting out of what they thought to be selflessness when in actuality they were going against the very nature of everything they claimed to believe in. Megumi was right; what was the point of them living their lives fighting for these virtues if they were themselves not living them and upholding them within their own lives? "Miss Megumi…you're right! All this time I thought that I was doing Kenshin a favor by keeping my feelings a secret—but all I've been doing is hurting him and myself; if we can't see past our own fears and insecurities, than we are simply letting the weakness and corruption we've been trying so hard to fight against, win!"
"Exactly! Finally you are seeing my point of view, I'm so glad!"
Karou smiled and flung her arms around the older woman in a tight embrace. "Oh Megumi thank you! You've always been such an honest and loyal friend, I don't know what I would do without you!"
Megumi smiled, hugging the young woman back. But then she gently pushed her back just enough to look at her. "Good. But stop your tears now you silly girl! It will get you nowhere with Sir Ken, standing here crying to me—go find him and for Kami's sake tell him how you feel! …unless of course you want me to do it for you; I can always share my own—personal thoughts with Sir Ken; we are close after all and I'd like—"
"Oh no you don't! you're not getting anywhere near him you conniving little cat!" Karou clenched her fists and her face went red with jealousy.
Megumi smiled snidely to herself; it was just the reaction she was hoping for. "Then hurry up and go after him, you ninny! I won't give you another chance!"
Karou nodded eagerly and sped towards the door. But just before she left, she suddenly skidded to a stop and turned around to face Megumi. "Miss Megumi?"
"Yes Karou?"
"I just wanted to say thank you. And I also wanted to say—don't do what I've done for so long; you deserve to be happy more than anyone and to have a man who loves you more than life itself…don't give up the chance to find it, ok?"
Megumi gasped as her eyes met Karou's gentle knowing blue ones. Karou gave her one last encouraging smile before she disappeared and as Megumi watched her hurry across the yard to the gate, her heart fluttered wildly as a pair of dark Chocolate eyes and a lopsided grin appeared in her mind; The older woman blushed as the tiniest of hopeful smiles graced her ruby red lips.
"…Don't give up the chance, Miss Megumi…"