Cataclysm: n; any violent upheaval, especially one of a social or political nature
It had been over a week since the breach at Sagara Industries and Sano had been religiously coordinating Megumi's pick up and drop off everywhere she went which she thought rather over the top but since it was important to Sano, Megumi gamely resigned herself to humoring her overprotective fiancé.
Megumi briefly glanced at the dresses through the shop window before deciding to move on to the next store. Despite the number of people continuously moving around her in the shopping center, Megumi stopped for a moment and crouched down, fiddling with her shoe. Behind her, a man stopped as well. She narrowed her eyes. That is it. She moved.
~o~
"How dare you!" Sano looked up from the paper he was perusing at her sudden entrance. Megumi knew she looked neither happy nor upset—she was furious. Megumi could still see the bodyguard in her peripheral vision. She whirled around. "Leave." The man had the audacity to look to Sano for permission, who nodded once, before bowing and leaving Megumi with Sanosuke.
"Megumi—"
"Explain yourself, Sagara." She hissed.
"It was to protect—"
"You had me followed!"
"I assigned you a bodyguard for your safety."
"You already dictated that I would get driven around everywhere and did I make a fuss? No! Then you have a man following me around?"
"Megumi—" Sano placed a hand on her arm but Megumi stepped away from him.
"No, Sano. You do not get to make decisions that concern me without consulting me."
"Megumi, please."
She looked him straight in the eye. "I can't talk to you right now—I might say something I'd regret." The hurt shock on Sano's face stayed with her as she left the office.
Megumi's anger ebbed as the day progressed, leaving a dull ache in its place that was strangely physically painful. It hurt that he had gone behind her back but as she thought about it, Megumi could see where Sano was coming from. She was still upset that he kept it from her but no longer with the intense anger she felt when she first discovered his duplicity.
That night, there was a single text message from Sano: I'm so sorry. Megumi shoved her phone in her nightstand drawer and let the tears come.
~o~
The next day, her usual car was waiting out front to take her to the University.
"Ma'am." Megumi looked up at the elderly driver. "The Young Master wanted me to assure you that it's just me today."
Megumi understood the message. "Thank you, Sato-san."
When she got to her lab station, a cluster of Star of Bethlehems and yellow roses lay on her desk. A small card with Sano's clean script simply read Please forgive me. –S
Megumi knew Sano was flying out to Tokyo that morning for a meeting and wouldn't be back in town until late that night so she was surprised when at the end of the day, he was waiting for her outside the building.
She was miserable and judging by his appearance, Sano was too.
"What are you doing here, Sano? I thought you had an important meeting in Tokyo."
He shook his head. "You're more important."
Megumi took him by the hand and led him to another section of the University grounds. The small grove was a relaxing place to eat lunch during the spring and summer months and today it provided some privacy from curious eyes.
Megumi released his hand when they reached the gazebo in the center of the clearing and faced him. Sano stood apart from her, his hands hanging loosely at his sides.
"I'm sorry."
He looked sadly at her then took a step closer. Megumi couldn't take it anymore. She stepped into his arms and released a long sigh.
Sano held her, whispering "I'm sorry" against her hair.
Later, after Megumi had shed a few tears, both in anger and relief, they took a seat in the gazebo. The ache was still there, but its tight knot had already loosened and it was steadily dissipating. Megumi didn't want to feel it ever again.
"I forgive you." Megumi said in response to all of Sano's apologies. She sniffed. "I know you just want to protect me, Sano so I can't be angry for that, but—"
"I should have told you about the bodyguard." He looked at her. "Even if I knew you wouldn't want it, I should have talked to you about it." For their relationship to work and thrive, they needed to communicate openly with each other. "I knew you wouldn't agree that's why I did it secretly. I—I'm sorry for the hurt it caused you." Megumi could tell he was genuinely upset over his actions and it sent a wave of comfort through her ruffled emotions.
She reached to kiss his cheek. "I'm better now." Sano slung his arm across her shoulders and Megumi sank into his side, quite happy to be reconciled with him.
After a few minutes of silence, Sano spoke up. "Can we have a compromise?"
Megumi leaned back from Sano. "On what?" She said warily.
"The bodyguard." He said carefully, watching her face intently.
Megumi huffed. "Sano—"
"Hear me out, Kitsune. Nakamura's case is still open and foul play hasn't been ruled out." Megumi knew his parents already had a bodyguard each due to it.
"What if it was just an accident or even a suicide? Will you be shadowing me for the rest of my life?"
Sano grinned wryly, "Well I was hoping you'd keep me around for a good many years yet, Kitsune." He drawled.
Megumi glared at him. "Not the time, Sano."
Sano's expression grew serious. "But what if it wasn't? If her death is somehow connected to what she did at S.I., then you could be in danger because of your connection to me. It's not a risk I'm willing to take. Look, I am sorry for not talking to you about the muscle, but I am not sorry I did it."
Presented, that way, Sano's argument made sense but Megumi balked at the idea of being babysat for an indefinite period of time on the assumption that Nakamura was murdered and that it was for her role in the breach.
Megumi sighed. "What would it take for you to rest assured that I'm going to be alright?" She tried instead.
"To have answers and to have whoever's responsible behind bars."
"Sano—"
"Yeah, I know. You think I'm being unreasonable." He stared in the distance, jaw clenched.
Megumi placed her hand over his. "What's the compromise?'
In the end Sano agreed to get rid of the bodyguard but only if Megumi was still chauffeured around by one. Megumi insisted on a timeline and Sano agreed to revisit the subject at the end of the month.
"And, Sano?"
"Yeah?"
"No more going behind my back."
"I thought you like my surprise presents?
"Sano!"
"I promise, Megitsune."
And because he had wasted an entire day already, Sano made it up to Megumi in the best way possible and proved that with sweet, drugging kisses, the making up part was indeed highly enjoyable.
The "bodyguard incident" as she dubbed it, made Megumi realize that a relationship required effort—that it wasn't just a stroll in the park. But what she had with Sano was real and it was special and she was willing to put her all into it.
~O~O~O~
"Takani-san!" Megumi stopped in her journey down the hall at her colleague's greeting.
"Konnichiwa, Okuda-san. How's your research coming along?" Megumi said with a smile.
Okuda Ryota was in the same year as Megumi and his research involved experiments with Cannabis.
"It's really great!" The other senior gushed. "I received some help from a large grant and I'm really excited to show my findings at the year-end symposium."
"Well I'm excited for you—I look forward to hearing about it at the conference."
They parted ways for their respective lab stations.
Megumi and Sano had had a long phone conversation the night before since he was away in Tokyo due to the meeting being rescheduled after the bodyguard incident. Megumi had since decided that if Sano still wanted the bodyguard when they talked about it at the end of the month, she would let him.
After a few hours at the lab, Megumi left for her internship at the nearby University hospital. She was practically done with her required hours but she wanted to finalize a presentation she was working on for her department.
~O~O~O~
It hit her without warning. And much like a tsunami, it threatened to drown her.
"Megumi-san, have you seen the headline?"
"Megumi-san, aren't the Sagaras friends with your family?"
"Megumi-san, weren't you going out with the son?"
Megumi pled a headache with her preceptor and left the hospital. She typed a quick text to Sano in the car but there was no reply. When she reached home, she ran to her bedroom and powered up the computer to look up the news. 'Sagara Shiro, Siphoning Money from Investors,' 'The Sagaras, a Sham?' and similar headlines. Lies. These are all lies. She picked up her phone and dialed Sano's number. After a few rings it went to voicemail. She hung up and tried again. This time it went straight to voicemail. Megumi grabbed her coat and left the house. She needed to see Sano.
She didn't usually listen to the news on her radio but Megumi found a station and turned up the volume.
"Earlier this morning, an anonymous tip and subsequent report was delivered to the desk of the Nihon Times. Sagara Shiro, current head of the family and president of Sagara Industries appears to have been moving accounts and is involved with multiple under the table schemes. It is not yet clear if this dealings are of an international or more domestic nature but nevertheless, this is a huge scandal that has already negatively affected the company's stocks—"
Megumi frantically changed the station and celebrity reporter Kamatari's voice came over the radio.
"In other news, though the engagement was never publicly confirmed, a statement from Takani Akio, father to the would-be bride, has reached us that the union between his only child and the heir of the Sagara empire is now very definitely off. Sorry folks, but despite our wishes and prayers, the wedding of the year is just not happening."
An 'official statement' from her own father? '…definitely off?' A horn honked angrily behind Megumi when she suddenly swerved her car to dive into a quiet alley, her hands shaking.
Kamatari continued.
"We can only assume that this is in light of the scandal that broke just a few hours ago regarding the Sagara family which could threaten the Takani family as well. I'm sure I'm not the only one heartbroken over this development! Our poor star-crossed lovers!"
No, no, no. Megumi slammed her hand down on the radio, silencing any more gossip and false reports. What is going on, and where is Sano? Megumi took deep breaths, fighting her rising panic. She tried both his mobile and office phones but again got his voicemail instead.
Megumi almost dropped her phone when it suddenly rang. It wasn't Sano.
"Okasan?"
Megumi could hear her mother crying over the phone.
"I'm so sorry, darling. We really thought it would work out. But maybe it's best this way—"
"Mother, I have to go."
Her engagement was definitely not over if she had anything to do with it.
~o~
In the space of less than two weeks, Megumi was bursting into an office in anger again.
"Otousan, how could you!" Megumi had never spoken so bluntly to her father before and never with such anger. "Even if this- this scandal is true, which I don't believe for a moment, it changes nothing between me and Sano! You have no—"
"Megumi-chan, calm down."
"I cannot calm down! There's a horrible rumor circulating and I can't get a hold of my fiancé!"
Akio led his agitated daughter to the sofa. "Megumi, I was not the one who broke off the engagement."
He saw the moment the truth hit Megumi but he voiced it anyway.
"Sanosuke did."
A/N:
I know, I know… I'm sorry!
Thank you for all the lovely reviews, follows, and favorites!
Anon, thanks for the well-wishes on the trip. It was, indeed, wonderful! I am officially in love with New Zealand. Yep, trouble is definitely brewing for our beloved couple—well, it's already simmering, actually. Wait 'til it boils over! Aww, thanks! I'm glad you think the cheesiness is delicious! Never having been in a relationship myself, I can only guess at what goes on between a couple. Hopefully Sano and Megumi's fight in this chapter is believable. Oops, I shouldn't have mentioned Jurassic World! LoL I miiiiiiggght try it…? Hmmm….